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RUSSIAN 

CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE, 


IN THE YEAR 1814. 









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HISTORY 


OF THE 


CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE, 

,,IN THE YEAR 1814. 


TRANSLATED FROM THE RUSSIAN 

OF 

A. MIKHAILOFSKY-DANILEFSKY. 

// * 


ILLUSTRATED BY 

^Іапб апЪ ІЖарй of tf)e (©perattmisi of tlje 


>/* * 0 % 


LONDON: 

SMITH, ELDER, AND CO. CORNHILL. 


1839. 





THE LIBRARY 
OF CONGRE8S 

WASHINGTON 




LONDON : 

PRINTED BY STEWART AND MURRAY 




OLD BAILEY 












NOTICE. 


The original Work, from which the present volume 
has been translated, was published in St. Petersburg 
during the latter part of the year 1836. The Author, 
a well-known Russian General, is now a Member 
of the Imperial Senate. 

During the eventful campaign of 1814, he 
served as Aide-de-camp to the Emperor Alexander, 
and was constantly at His Majesty’s head-quarters, 
where he was employed in wielding both the sword 
and the pen. 

Although the Translator has not the pleasure of 
being personally acquainted with the Author, yet he 
had ample opportunities of learning, from other dis¬ 
tinguished Russian officers, who were high in command 
during the war in France, their very favourable opinion 
of the merits of his work, both for its accuracy and 
impartiality. 


a 


ѵш 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER V. 

Page 

Ihe French retreat.—Troyes abandoned by Napoleon.—In¬ 
trigues against Napoleon.—The Emperor Alexander’s stay 
at Troyes.—Congress of Chatillon.—Discussions of the 
Conditions of Peace.—The Emperor Alexander’s Opinion 
opposed by the leading ministers of the Allied Sovereigns. 73 


CHAPTER VI. 

Advances of the Grand Army.—Movements of Blucher.—The 
Army of Silesia.—Movements of Napoleon.—Affair at 
Champaubert.—Olsoofief taken prisoner, and defeat of the 
Russians.—Dialogue between Napoleon and Poltorasky. 
—Conduct of Blucher—Affair at Montmirail and Yau- 
champ.—Taking of Soissons. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Line of Operations of the Grand Army.—Causes of Prince 
Schwarzenbergs inaction.—The Allies cross the Seine— 
Movements of the Grand Army at the time of Bluchers 
defeat.—Alexander’s Instructions to Blucher.—Result of 
Blucher s defeat.—Incursions of the Russian Partisans 
into the west of France.—The Ataman of the Cossacks. 
—Kosciusko. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

Position of the Allied Armies.—Count Witgenstein leaves 
Provins. Napoleon attacks the Grand Army.—Count 
Pahlen Retreats.—Affair at Mormont.—Russians sustain 
much loss at Bray. —Colonel Leble taken prisoner- 
justification of the conduct of General Witgenstein— 
Retreat to Troyes—Junction with Blucher.—Murat de¬ 
clares War against Napoleon—Napoleon desires peace 
with Austria—Suspension of hostilities proposed—Re¬ 
treat to Bar-sur-Aube—Council of War. 


148 


CONTENTS. 


IX 


CHAPTER IX. 

Blucher crosses the Aube.—Battle at Bar-sur-Aube.—Posi- ^ 
tion of the French and Allied Armies.—Defeat of the 
French. Count Witgenstein wounded.—Council of War 
at Bar-sur-Aube.—Treaty of Chaumont.—Rupture of the 
Conference at Lusigny.—Advance of the Grand Army. 176 

CHAPTER X. 

Advance of the Army of Silesia to the Marne.—Marmont re¬ 
treats.—Blucher crosses the Marne at Meaux.—Bliicher’s 
retreat to Soissons.—Capitulation of Soissons.—The Rus¬ 
sians cross the Aisne.—Napoleon orders the people to take 
up arms.—Defence of Soissons.—Success of Count Woront- 
zoff. Battle of Craonne.—Death of Generals Lanskoy 
and Ooshakof.—Of Count Stroganoff.—Affair at Laon. 198 

CHAPTER XI. 

Reims taken by St. Priest.—Retaken by the French.—General 
St. Priest dies of his wounds.—General Emanuel falls 
back upon Laon.—Concentration of the Grand Army at 
Arcis.—Battle of Arcis.—Napoleon crosses the Aube. . 246 

CHAPTER XII. 

Success of Count Ojaroffsky.—Napoleon marches to St. Dizier. 

—Blucher attacks Marmont at Bery-au-Bac.—General 
Chernisheff pursues Marmont to Chateau Thierry.—Bliicher 

proceeds to Chalons.—Movement of the Allied Army._ 

Napoleon crosses the Marne.—Vitry refuses to surrender. 

—Interception of important despatches by the Allies._ 

Junction of the Allied Armies.—Resolution of the Emperor 
Alexander to march to Paris.—Close of the Congress at 
Chatillon.—Public declaration issued by the Allies. . 275 

CHAPTER XIII. 

The allies march towards Paris.—Marmont and Mortier repulsed.— 
Battle at Fere Champenoise. — General Pacthod taken 
prisoner.—The French repulsed from Ferte Gaucher.—Ap¬ 
proach of the Allies to the Marne. . . • .305 


X 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER XIV. 


Page 


Affair at St. Dizier.—Wintzengerode retreats to Chalons. 

Critical Position of Napoleon.—He resolves to march on 
Paris..—Napoleon and Alexander cross the Marne.—Ap¬ 
proach of the Allies to Paris.—The Emperor Alexanders 
Directions to the Allied Armies.—Movements of the Allies. 
—Marie Louise flies from Paris to Tours.—Proclamation of 
the Allies to the Parisians.325 

CHAPTER XV. 

The Allied Army reaches the Neighbourhood of Paris.—Mar¬ 
shals Marmont and Mortier defend the City.—The Emperor 
Alexander’s Interview with a French Prisoner.—Battle of 
Paris.—Joseph Bonaparte quits Paris.—The French offer 
to submit.—Montmartre stormed.—Negociations with the 
French. — Capitulation of Paris.—Napoleon returns to 
Fontainebleau.—Caulaincourt sent with full Powers to treat 
with the Allies.—Evening of the 18th of March.—Order 
of the Allied Troops on entering Paris. . . . 347 


CHAPTER XVI. 

Alexander’s entrance into Paris, and his stay there.—His 
Designs throughout the Campaign.—Sacken appointed 
Governor-General of Paris.—Napoleon deprived of the 
Throne by a decree of the Senate.—Last movements of 
the French army.—Napoleon abdicates, and is to retire to 
Elba.—Expression of Public Opinion towards Alexander. 
—Results of the Campaign.—Conclusion. . 


383 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 


1. Map of the Theatre of War 1814. . . Frontispiece . 

2. Position of the Armies at the opening of the Campaign by 



Napoleon. 

To face page 

50 

3. 

Plan of The Battle of Brienne . 

. 

61 

4. 

- The Battle of Bar-sur-Aube . 

. 

78 

J 5 . 

- The Battle of Craonne . 

. 

219 

-І6. 

- The Battle of Laon 


238 


-- The Battle of Arcis 

. 

264 

g ' 8. 

- The Battle of Fere Champenoise 


306 

■Jo. 

- The Battle of Paris 

. 

348 































































* 



































































































. 






RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN 


IN 

FRANCE. 


CHAPTER I. 

General mew of the Campaign—Position of Affairs on the Opening of 
the Campaign of 1814— The Designs of the Emperor Alexander— 
Condition of the Allies—The Allied Forces —State of the French 
Army—The Russian Forces—Conduct and Views of the Emperor 
Alexander. 

Russia had already celebrated, before the beginning 
of the year 1814, the anniversary of her deliverance 
from foreign invasion, with the appointed religious 
solemnities and public rejoicings. The grass had 
again waved green on the fields of Borodino, Taroo- 
tino, and Krasnoy, and, from the Moskva to the 
Niemen, towns and villages had risen from their ashes. 
Our country had revived with a fresh and vigorous life, 
and our sovereign, the acknowledged liberator of 
Europe, was at the head of his victorious legions on 
the banks of the Rhine. Austria, Prussia, the Ger¬ 
man Princes, Holland, Spain and Portugal, had thrown 
off the yoke of Napoleon, who was now engaged in 
negociating with the Pope and Ferdinand VII. the 
terms of their re-establishment on their respective 
в 



2 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


thrones. His near relation, the King of Naples, was 
only waiting for a favourable moment to take up arms 
against him. England having renewed her friendly 
relations with the continental powers, the flags of all 
nations were again unfurled on seas, on which, during 
the long period of ten years, not even the peaceful 
merchantman had ventured to set a sail. To ensure 
the general tranquillity of nations, there needed but 
to place an insurmountable barrier to the ambition of 
Napoleon, and that could only be done by crossing 
the frontiers of France. 

The campaign of 1814 ought not to be considered 
as a new war, but simply as the continuation of the 
campaign of 1813, which the Emperor Alexander had 
opened single-handed, and in which he was afterwards 
joined by the other powers, in the hope of regaining 
their independence. The victory of Leipsic brought 
the Allies to the Rhine, but did not put an end to the 
war. The negociations at Frankfort failed of success, 
for this plain reason,—that neither side brought any 
thing like sincerity to the discussion. Alexander 
warmly insisted on the necessity of continuing the 
contest, and exerted himself to infuse the same spirit 
into his allies, some of whom were satisfied with seeing 
the French driven out of Germany, and pretended that 
the object of the treaties of offence and defence had 
been gained, and that Napoleon, forced across the 
Rhine, was no longer in a condition to trouble the peace 
of Europe. The Emperor at last succeeded in bring¬ 
ing over the Allies to his opinion, and in getting them 
to adopt the plan of operations which he had traced ; 
in short, it was finally resolved to invade France, and 
by penetrating into the heart of that country, to oblige 


THE DESIGNS OF ALEXANDER. 


3 


Napoleon to accept of such terms as should re-establish 
and secure the political balance of Europe. 

Napoleon was still the recognised ruler of France, 
and it is certain that at this time the Cabinets had not 
the slightest idea of wresting the sceptre from his 
grasp, and of handing it over to the representative of 
the Bourbons, who was residing in England as a private 
gentleman. On the occurrence of any important event, 
the latter would take occasion to remind the Allies, by 
letter, of his right to inherit the throne of his ancestors, 
and when they approached the Rhine, he requested 
them to proclaim his legitimate authority; but no 
attention was paid to his wishes. His brother, the 
Count d’Artois, with his two sons, was now on the 
point of leaving London for the Continent, in order 
to be nearer to the theatre of war, but not one of the 
allied monarchs entered into treaty with the Bourbons, 
or flattered them with promises. Yet in the bosom 
of him, who was the soul of the Alliance, there already 
lurked the intention of dispossessing Napoleon,—an 
intention, which though not manifested by any overt act, 
was no secret to two or three persons, who enjoyed his 
confidence. Still a sharp-sighted observer might, in 
some measure, guess the colour of his thoughts from 
the following maxim, which Alexander, as he drew near 
the frontiers of France, and indeed during the whole 
course of the war in that country, frequently repeated, 
both verbally and in writing, and to which he steadily 
adhered : “ We should make the march of political 
arrangements depend on the success of our arms, and 
not fetter ourselves with any premature engagements; 
we should look to victory for the most advantageous 
conditions of a general peace.” 

в 2 


4 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Napoleon’s reflections had led him to precisely the 
same conclusion, and he acted accordingly. He was 
not shaken by the successive blows which had anni¬ 
hilated his armies in Russia and Germany. He bore 
his defeats with firmness, and, on his return from 
Leipsic, gave his exclusive attention to the assembling 
of fresh troops, to oppose the general armament against 
him. He used the utmost activity in the formation of 
his armies, and tried, by every means, to render the 
war national. In neither of these attempts, however, 
was he cordially seconded by the wishes of France, 
where all ranks were calling out for peace. The re¬ 
flection of that military glory, with which Napoleon 
had dazzled France, was now felt to be a feeble com¬ 
pensation for the decay of agriculture and manufactures, 
the stagnation of trade, the conscription, the loss of 
husbands and fathers, and heavy taxes. But Na¬ 
poleon heeded the voice of his suffering people as 
little as he did the counsels of his friends and the re¬ 
presentatives of those public functionaries, who, after 
years of silence, now ventured to speak out their sen¬ 
timents on the ruined condition of the empire, and the 
absolute necessity of peace. The child of victory 
turned a deaf ear to their respectful remonstrances, 
and told his advisers that he could not sit on a throne 
whose lustre was tarnished, nor wear a crown which 
was shorn of its glory. Inveighing against despondency, 
he exerted himself to rekindle the warlike ardour of the 
nation, and to rouse the spirits of his troops to a con¬ 
test in which he hoped to regain the glory he had lost, 
and consequently that preponderance in the affairs of 
Europe which he had once enjoyed. In these circum¬ 
stances, reconciliation was far off; indeed it was equally 


CONDITION OF THE ALLIES. 


5 


distant from the thoughts of Alexander and of Na¬ 
poleon. 

While the allied armies were preparing to cross the 
Rhine, the Duke of Wellington was opposed to Mar¬ 
shal Soult on the south-west frontier of France; and, 
on the Mincio, Field Marshal Bellegarde was in the 
field against the Viceroy of Italy; Count Benningsen 
was under the walls of Hamburg, which were defended 
by Marshal Davoust; the Hereditary Prince of 
Sweden had opened the campaign against the Danes, 
now the only allies of Napoleon ; and some Prussian 
detachments were besieging Magdeburg, Glogau, 
Ciistrin and two citadels, still occupied by the French 
in Germany. Almost at one and the same time the 
war raged in the heart of France, at the mouths of the 
Elbe, at the foot of the Pyrenees, and on the plains of 
Lombardy; but the decisive blow was struck on the 
banks of the Marne, the Aine, the Aube and the 
Seine, where the shock took place between the armies 
in the presence of the Allied Sovereigns and Napoleon. 

It was here that an end was put to a long and 
bloody struggle, and that the fate of the vanquished 
was decided ; for the successes of Wellington in the 
south of France, of Bellegarde in Italy, and of Ben¬ 
ningsen at Hamburg, could not have produced the 
desired result, if Napoleon had triumphed over those 
armies against which he fought in person, and whose 
movements and combats we are now about to relate. 

During this campaign, as in that of the preceding 
year, the forces of the allied Powers were divided into 
three armies, and remained under the orders of the 
same commanders-in-chief, who had led them to 
victory in Germany. The Grand Army, with which the 


б 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Sovereigns were present, was commanded by Prince 
Schwarzenburg, the army of Silesia by Field Marshal 
Bliicher, and that of the north, by the Crown Prince 
of Sweden. His Royal Highness, how r ever, owing to 
the tardy march of the negociations with the Danes, 
was late in reaching France, halted at Liege, and took 
no share in the campaign. Thus Schwarzenburg and 
Bliicher alone entered the lists with Napoleon. 

The three allied armies, destined to invade France, 
were formed in the following manner. The grand 
army consisted of six corps of infantry, with a small 
number of cavalry attached to each. The first three 
corps were Austrian, under the command of Count 
Colloredo, Prince Lichtenstein, and Count Giulay; 
the fourth, consisting of Wirtembergers, was com¬ 
manded by their Hereditary Prince; the fifth, of 
Bavarians, by Count УѴгШ ; and the sixth, of Rus¬ 
sians, by Count Witgenstein. 

Besides these six corps, there were two unattached 
divisions of Austrian infantry. The reserve of the 
Grand Army was divided between the Austrians and 
Russians. Of the former, there were three divisions 
of grenadiers and two of cuirassiers, under the com¬ 
mand of the Hereditary Prince of Hesse Homburg. 
The Russian part of the reserve, commanded by Count 
Barclay de Tolly, consisted also of horse and foot. 
Count Milor&dovitch had the infantry, consisting of the 
third or grenadier corps of Count Lambert, and the 
guards or fifth of Yermolof. There were two divisions 
in each of these two corps ; but to the guards was also 
attached a brigade of the Prusso-Baden guards, com- 
oosed of eight battalions, and eight squadrons. The 
cavalry of the reserve, under the orders of Prince 


THE ALLIED FORCES. 


7 


Galitzin, was formed of three divisions of cuirassiers, 
and the light-horse division of the guards. In addition 
to these we must reckon the Cossacks, under the com¬ 
mand of their Ataman, Count Platoff, consisting of 
twenty-six regiments, of which some were attached to 
the different corps and others to independent detach¬ 
ments. 


In the Grand Army, exclusive of the Cossacks, there 
were present under arms :— 


r> • f Count Witgenstein ... 

Russians < & 

... 20,569 

(Reserve . 

... 32,839 

Austrians . 

... 130,000 

Prussians . 

... 7,100 

Bavarians. 

... 25,000 

Wirtembergers . 

... 14,000 

Badeners . 

1000 

Total . 

... 230,508 

men, with 680 pieces of cannon. 


To this army also belonged three corps of the troops 
of the German Princes, amounting to 30,000 ; but of 
these, the corps of Prince Philip of Hesse Homburg 
alone came up and shared in the affairs which took 
place near Lyons in the month of February. 

In the army of Silesia there were two 
sians and two of Prussians viz. :— 

corps of Rus- 

Count Langeron’s . 

.. 27,017 

Baron Sacken’s . 


General York’s . 

... 18,931 

General Kleist’s . 

.. 20,000 

Total . 

.. 92,514 

men, with 436 pieces of cannon. 


















8 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

Two corps of the German Confederation were des¬ 
tined to form part of this army, but neither of them 
crossed the Rhine. One of them consisted of the 
troops of the Princes of Hesse, and the other was 
under the command of the Prince of Coburg: both 
together amounted to 44,000 men. 

The army of the north consisted of 
The Russian corps of Baron Wintzengerode 35,237 

The Russian corps of Biilow . 30,000 

The troops of the reigning princes of Ger¬ 
many under the command of the Duke 
of Weimar . 25,000 

Total .;. 90,237 

To these are to be added the following troops, of 
which only a very small number took part in the war : 

some of them did not even cross the Rhine :_ 

Swedish army . 20,000 

Mixed corps of Count Walmoden . 15,000 

Corps of Germans under the command of 

the Duke of Brunswick . 30,000 

Troops of the Netherlands . 10,000 

British .9'000 

The grand total of the troops, destined to cross the 
Rhine, thus amounted to upwards of four hundred 
thousand men. The number of troops which France 
was able to oppose to the invaders is uncertain, 
owing to the wide difference in the accounts of the 
French writers on this subject. Yet, from their own 
showing, and judging by what we ourselves saw, we 
are fairly warranted to conclude, that the army with 
which Napoleon opened the campaign in person, in the 











STATE OF THE FRENCH ARMY. 


9 


middle of January, amounted to a hundred and twenty 
thousand men. Of course we do not include in this 
number—the army of the Viceroy in Lombardy, and 
that of Marshal Soult on the Spanish frontiers—the 
independent corps of Augereau at Lyons, and that of 
Maison at Antwerp—the National Guard, which took 
part in several engagements—or the garrisons of the 
numerous fortresses on the frontiers of France, to 
blockade which, the Allies were obliged to leave behind 
them large detachments and even entire corps. In the 
course of the campaign, the ranks of the French army 
were filled up with more than 50,000 men, partly 
drawn from Spain, and partly from the recruiting 
depots in the western provinces of France, whither the 
Allies did not penetrate, and where the conscription 
went on without interruption. But although Napo¬ 
leon’s troops were less numerous than those of his 
opponents, he had, in other respects, many advantages 
over the Allies. He was in the centre of his empire, 
where he was still blindly obeyed, and could avail him¬ 
self of all its resources for the supply of men, arms, 
ammunition, and provisions. Fighting in a country, 
whose inhabitants were on his side, he had always at 
command thousands of carts for the conveyance of his 
troops, and a host of spies to give him notice of the 
movements of the Allies. Granaries and cellars, which 
were carefully concealed from us, were freely opened 
on the approach of the French, who were thus readily 
supplied with bread and wine; their wounded or ex¬ 
hausted soldiers too, every where found shelter and 
assistance under the roofs of their countrymen. 

Very different was the condition of the allied armies, 
which had no magazines with them, nor assured com- 


10 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


munication with the right bank of the Rhine. They 
poured into a hostile country in severe winter weather, 
paying no attention to Napoleon’s widely circulated 
proclamations calling on the people to take up arms, 
nor to those numerous fortresses in their rear, which 
are so thickly planted along the northern and eastern 
frontiers of France. We had to struggle not with the 
enemy’s troops alone, but with hardships caused chiefly 
by the want of provisions; an embarrassment which it was 
the more difficult to relieve, because the arrangements, 
made by the respective commanders of the Allies, often 
clashed with each other. Time was wasted in written 
correspondence, complaints, and reproaches, while the 
soldier remained without food. The sick and the 
stragglers were despatched by the armed peasants con¬ 
cealed in the woods and hollows, from which they 
issued, especially in the month of February, and falling 
upon our small parties and couriers, interrupted the 
communications between the armies, and even between 
the corps. Still more hurtful was the submission of 
the allied armies to the influence of certain Cabinets, 
who frequently differed in opinion, not merely on the 
score of military operations, but on the very necessity 
of the war itself. We must farther take into con¬ 
sideration that the Allied generals, who were not 
placed in immediate and strict subordination to one 
supreme authority, and who differed as widely from 
each other, in point of personal qualities, as they did 
in the degree of their dependence on the Courts, were 
in many respects inferior to him who was looked upon 
as the first captain of the age, and who was master of 
his actions and accountable to nobody. We were in¬ 
deed superior to the enemy in numbers, and to a 


THE RUSSIAN FORCES. 


11 


certain extent in equipment; but with us there was not, 
and, from the very nature of a heterogeneous alliance, 
could not be, either unity of purpose or of will. 

The Russian troops were distributed, as we have 
already shown, in all the three armies in the field. 
They consisted of the cavalry of the reserve and six 
corps of infantry, viz. the guards, the grenadiers and 
the corps of Witgenstein, Langeron, Sacken, and 
Wintzengerode. The last four corps had not always 
attached to them the same number of regular cavalry 
and Cossacks, and were subdivided into several corps, 
each consisting of two divisions of infantry, viz. : 

Count Witgenstein’s Corps. 

1st, or Prince Gortchakoff’s.1 Corps of 

2nd, or Prince Eugene of Wirtemberg’s J infantry. 

Count Langeron’s Corps. 

8th, or Count St. Priest’s, afterwards^ 

Rudzevitch’s. i Corps of 

9th, or Olsoofief’s. | infantry. 

10th, or Kaptsevitch’s.J 

Baron Sacken’s Corps. 

6th, or Prince Stcherbatof’s.1 Corps of 

11th, or Count Lieven’s . / infantry. 

Baron Wintzengerode’s Corps. 

Count WorontsofF’s....) Corps of 

Count Stroganof’s .J infantry. 

The number of Russian troops present in France, 
with the three allied armies, was thus made up of 










12 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


1. The guards, the grenadiers, and the 


corps of cavalry of the reserve. 32,839 

2. Corps of Witgenstein. 20,569 

3. „ „ Langeron . 27,017 

4. „ „ Sacken . 26,566 

5. „ „ Wintzengerode. 35,237 


In all. 142,228 


At this time there were two other Russian armies 
beyond the frontiers; that of Poland, under Benning- 
sen, before Hamburg, amounting to about 50,000 men, 
and the army of reserve in the Duchy of Warsaw, of 
80,000, under the command of Prince Lobanof-Ros- 
toffsky. In the course of the campaign, the latter, 
more than once, furnished reinforcements to the army 
in France. The total number of Prussian troops, 
beyond the frontiers, amounted, in the beginning of 
1814, to more than 270,000 men. 

Count Barclay bore the title of Commander-in- 
Chief of the Russian army; but his immediate au¬ 
thority extended only to the Russo-Prussian reserve, 
with which he was personally present, and to which he 
communicated the orders of the Emperor and the dis¬ 
positions of Prince Schwarzenberg. His influence 
over our corps in the main body of the armies in the 
field, was confined to a general superintendence of 
their equipments and supplies. This was no easy task, 
owing to their great distance from home, and conse¬ 
quently, from their resources, as well as to their being 
attached to different armies, in which they were placed 
under the orders of foreign commanders, who were 
under no direct obligation to give themselves much 









GENERALS OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY. 


13 


trouble about their well-being. The want of ammu¬ 
nition and accoutrements was often felt; not because 
there were none in store, but from the impossibility of 
bringing them up to the spot where they were wanted. 
Count Barclay was not present with these corps, and 
could not know of the instructions and orders given to 
them without his concurrence. With respect to provi¬ 
sions, the Allies not only gave little help to the Russians, 
but often showed perfect indifference to their wants. 

The four persons who were more immediately at¬ 
tached to the Emperor in the preceding year, and who 
enjoyed the same share of his confidence in the present 
campaign, were Count Araktcheieff, Prince Volkonsky, 
Count Nesselrode, and General Toll. The duty of 
the first was to keep up the full strength of the regi¬ 
ments, and to have the parks complete. To com¬ 
municate the Emperor’s orders relative to military 
operations, to Russian or foreign Generals, was the 
duty of Prince Volkonsky, as head of His Majesty’s 
staff. The diplomatic department remained in the 
hands of Count Nesselrode, who, as well as Prince 
Volkonsky, was constantly present with the Emperor. 
General Toll was always, as in the preceding campaign, 
at Prince Schwarzenberg’s head-quarters, whence he 
sent regular reports to Prince Volkonsky, who sub¬ 
mitted them to His Majesty. He also forwarded the 
Field-Marshal’s orders to our flying parties, and, in 
cases admitting of no delay, even to the Russian corps 
in the Grand Army. 

While the Emperor confided his troops to the care 
of foreign commanders, he freely exercised a general 
influence over both military and diplomatic affairs, 
and was thus in continual verbal and written 


14 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


communications with the leading commanders, as well 
as with the ministers of the courts. In the course of 
the campaign he reconciled warring opinions, rekindled 
the ardour of those who were growing cold; and, 
steadily pursuing his aim—the overthrow of Napoleon 
—regulated the movements of that mighty, but compli¬ 
cated alliance, which, but for him, would not, it may 
be safely averred, have been crowned with success. 
His decided opinion was ever in favour of pushing the 
war to the last extremity; and he maintained it in spite 
of the general wish of the foreign cabinets. In rejecting 
peace, Alexander stood single in the camp of the 
Allies, as did Napoleon in France. The latter would 
not stand humbled and disarmed in the eyes of a world, 
which, but the day before, he had looked on as his 
own. And thus, like two giants, did the mighty rivals 
go forth, for the last time, to make trial of their 
strength. Victory, to be bought alone with the blood 
of the brave, at length decided the contest! 

One of the most remarkable epochs in the lives of 
these sovereigns is that in which, for the attainment of 
political ends, each carried the war into the territories 
of the other. The orders of the day, issued by them 
to their troops on these memorable occasions, are 
historical monuments which bear on them a deep im¬ 
press of the respective characters of their authors. 
“ Soldiers,” said Napoleon, “ Russia is carried away 
by fatality. Her destiny must be accomplished ! Can 
it be that she looks on us as degenerated ? Are we 
not the same warriors who fought at Austerlitz ? Let 
us cross the Niemen and carry the war over the Russian 
frontier. This war will cover the French arms with 
glory, and the peace we shall conclude will be solid, 


SENTIMENTS OF ALEXANDER. 


15 


and will put an end to the baneful influence of Russia in 
the affairs of Europe.” 

Let us now listen to the words of Alexander:— 
“ Warriors! your valour and perseverance have brought 
you from the Oka to the Rhine. They will carry you 
farther. We are about to cross the Rhine, and to enter 
that country, with which we have been waging a bloody 
and a cruel war. Already have we saved our native 
country, covered it with glory, and restored freedom 
and independence to Europe. It remains but to 
crown these mighty achievements with the long-wished- 
for peace. May tranquillity be restored to the whole 
world ! May every country enjoy happiness under its 
own independent laws and government! May re¬ 
ligion, language, arts, sciences, and commerce flourish 
in every land for the general welfare of nations ! 
This, and not the continuance of war and destruc¬ 
tion, is our object. Our enemies, by invading the 
heart of our dominions, wrought us much evil, but 
dreadful was the retribution : the Divine wrath crushed 
them! Let us not take example from them: inhumanity 
and ferocity cannot be pleasing in the eyes of a merciful 
God. Let us forget what they have done against us. 
Instead of animosity and revenge, let us approach them 
with the words of kind feeling, and with the out¬ 
stretched hand of reconciliation. It is the Russian’s 
glory to humble an armed enemy; but, once disarmed, 
to do good both to him and his peaceful countrymen. 
Such is the lesson taught us by our most holy, orthodox 
faith ; from her divinely inspired lips we hear the com¬ 
mand, ‘ Love your enemies, and do good to them that 
hate you.’ Warriors! I have the fullest confidence, 
that, by the moderation of your conduct in the enemy’s 


16 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


country, you will conquer as often by generosity as 
by arms ; and that, uniting the valour of the soldier 
against the armed, with the charity of the Christian 
towards the unarmed, you will crown your exploits by 
keeping stainless your well-earned reputation of a brave, 
and a moral people. Thus you will the sooner attain 
the object of our wishes, a general peace. At the 
same time, I am well convinced that your commanders 
will not hesitate to take the severest measures to 
prevent the possible misconduct of a few among you, 
from sullying, to our general grief, the good name you 
have hitherto so justly enjoyed.” 


17 


CHAPTER II. 


Plan of Military Operations — Positions of the Allied Army — Anecdotes 
of Field Marshal Bliicher—The Allies cross the Rhine—Blucher 
occupies Coblentz — Captures Nancy — Army of the North — Engage¬ 
ment at Liege—Disposition of the French Forces—First Movements 
in France. 

The plan of the campaign in France was traced by 
the Emperor Alexander on the 29 th October, 1813, 
at Fiankfort on the Main, four days after his arrival 
from Leipsic: it is contained in the following letter, 
then written by his Majesty to the Crown Prince of 
Sweden. 

“ Here is the plan proposed by me, and en¬ 
tirely approved of by the Austrian and Prussian 
Commanders-in-chief. I hope your Royal Highness 
may find it equally conformable to your ideas. Of¬ 
fensive operations on the part of the Grand Army, be¬ 
tween Mentz and Strasburg, offer many difficulties, 
as we cannot leave the fortresses behind us with¬ 
out observation. By entering France on the side 
of Switzerland, we meet with incomparably fewer 
difficulties, that frontier not being so strongly fortified. 
Another advantage attending this movement, is the 
possibility of turning the Viceroy’s left wing, and there¬ 
by forcing him to a precipitate retreat. In that case, 
the Austrian army of Italy may advance on Lyons, so 
c 


IB RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN.FRANCE. 

as to form a prolongation of our line, and by means of 
its left wing, to connect our operations with those of 
the Duke of Wellington, whose head-quarters are now 
at Oleron, Soult having retreated to Orthez. In the 
meantime, Field-marshal Bliicher, reinforced by the 
Bavarians, will form an army of observation of 100,000 
men. But, without confining himself to mere obser¬ 
vation, he may cross the Rhine near Manheim, and 
manoeuvre against the enemy till the Grand Army reach 
the field of action. All the four armies, viz.: the 
Grand Army, that of Italy, Bliicher’s, and Wellington’s, 
will stand on one line, in the most fertile part of 
France. Forming the segment of a circle, the four 
armies will push forward; and diminishing the arc, will 
thus draw near its centre, that is, Paris, or to the head¬ 
quarters of Napoleon. 

“ Your Highness offered to undertake the conquest 
of Holland. The proposed operations, which I have 
submitted to you in detail, will enable you to effect your 
object the more easily, that they will force Napoleon 
to oppose the bulk of his troops to our armies on the 
left of the theatre of war. If your Highness will 
advance on Cologne and Diisseldorf, or from thence 
in the direction of Antwerp, you will at once separate 
Holland from France. In that event, should Napoleon 
resolve to keep possession of the fortresses, the gar¬ 
risons left in them will materially diminish the effective 
strength of his armies. On the other hand, should the 
garrisons be insufficient for their defence, your High¬ 
ness will have little difficulty in penetrating into Flan¬ 
ders, and perhaps farther. The grand object is, not to 
lose a moment, that we may not allow Napoleon time 
to form and discipline an army, and to furnish it with 


LINE OF OPERATIONS. 


19 


every thing necessary; our business being to take ad¬ 
vantage of the disorganized state of his forces. I 
earnestly entreat your Highness not to delay putting 
your army in motion in furtherance of our general 
plan of operations.” 

The principles laid down in this letter, which, with a 
few modifications, formed the basis of the campaign, 
were fully developed by the Commanders-in-chief, & in 
the orders issued by them to the chiefs of corps, and 
to the heads of the various branches of administration 
in the armies. 

The preliminary movements along the right bank of 
the Rhine, began towards the end of the year 1813. 
The Grand Army lay close to Switzerland, and that of 
Silesia between Manheim and Coblentz. As to that 
of the north, it was divided into several detachments 
after the battle of Leipsic. One of these, under the 
immediate command of the Crown Prince of Sweden, 
took the field against the Danes ; another, under the 
command of Count Benningsen, marched against 
Hamburg; the corps of Wintzengerode, after de¬ 
taching several divisions into Holstein, took up its 
quarters around Bremen; and General Billow with his 
corps turned off to the Netherlands. The deliverance 
of Holland from the French yoke, by General Ben¬ 
kendorf, was the brilliant commencement of the war. 
In the middle of December, 1813, and in January, 
1814, the allied armies severally began to cross the 
Rhine at different points, that river which had been 
so long considered as the insurmountable barrier of 
France. 

The line of operations made choice of for the Grand 
Army, was the road leading from Basle, between the 
c 2 


20 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Vosges and the Jura, and through Vesoul to Langres ; 
the latter town having been selected, from its highly 
advantageous situation in a military point of view, as 
the general rendezvous. The movements of this 
army, made up of the troops of six different powers, 
were complicated. On entering France it was divided 
into nine columns. The five first consisted of 
Austrians who had crossed the Rhine in Switzer¬ 
land, the sixth of Wirtemburgers, the seventh of 
Bavarians, and the eighth and ninth of a small 
number of Prussians and Badeners. The country to 
the left of Langres was occupied by the Austrians; 
that to the right, by the troops of the other five powers. 
We shall now follow the movements of the columns, 
beginning at the left wing, and proceeding to the ex¬ 
treme right, commanded by Count Witgenstein. 

The First Column , that of Count Bubna, marched 
through Berne and Neufchatel to Geneva. Having 
occupied that city, the Count sent detachments into 
the passes of Mount St. Bernard and the Simplon; 
and having thus cut off all communication between 
France and the north of Italy, where the army of the 
Viceroy was stationed, he advanced to the neighbour¬ 
hood of Lyons. Owing, however, to the small number 
of his troops, he did not enter that populous city, but 
retired behind the Aisne, and remained there during 
the month of January. The command of the army, 
destined to assemble at Lyons, was entrusted to Mar¬ 
shal Augereau, who was waiting, to begin hostilities, 
for the arrival of the troops, which had been ordered 
to be sent to him from the army of Marshal Soult, 
then lying on the Spanish frontier. Count Bubna, too, 
was expecting reinforcements from the Grand Army and 


POSITIONS OF THE ALLIED ARMY. 


21 


from Germany. Thus it happened, that the two armies 
passed the month of January between Geneva and 
Lyons, in almost complete inaction. Their operations 
began in February ; and they form the subject of a 
distinct episode, which we shall give in its proper place. 

The Second Column , Count Giulay’s, formed the 
advanced guard of the Grand Army, and advanced to 
Langres by the great Paris road through Montbeliard 
and Vesoul. The Thud , Count Lichtenstein’s, formed 
the blockade of Besan^on; and of the Fourth , or 
Count Colloredo’s, one division marched on Langres, 
and took up a position on Giulay’s left wing ; while the 
other, leaving a force sufficient to blockade Auxonne, 
movedforward through Dijon and Chatillon toTonnerre 
and Auxerre. The Fifth , the Prince of Hesse Hom- 
burg’s, consisting of all the Austrian reserves, marched 
on Dijon and Chatillon. The troops of this column, 
with the exception of the single division of General 
Bianchi, who advanced to Langres, remained at Dijon 
during the whole of the month of January. The 
Sixth Column , commanded by the hereditary Prince 
of Wirtemburg, and the Seventh by Count Wrede, 
crossed below Huningen and at Basle. The Bavarians 
formed the blockade of Huningen, Befort, Breisach, 
and Shletstadt, and both columns continued their route, 
the Prince of Wirtemburg through Epinal, Wrede 
through Colmar and St. Die, and took up their quarters 
between Nancy and Langres. The Eighth Column , 
or that of Barclay de Tolly, who led the corps of the 
guards, the grenadier corps, and the first corps of 
cavalry of the reserve, took the direction of Langres, 
serving as a reinforcement to Count Giulay, the he¬ 
reditary Prince of Wirtemburg and Count Wrede. 


22 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Finally, the Ninth Column , Count Witgenstein's, on 
the extremity of the right wing, was destined to ad¬ 
vance in the interval between the Grand Army and that 
of Silesia. The passage of the Rhine, by this column, 
took up more time than was expected, owing to the 
quantity of ice in the river. Count Witgenstein was 
the latest of all in crossing: he passed the river at Fort 
Louis, below Strasburg, but remained for a consider¬ 
able time near the Rhine with his infantry, in order to 
watch the garrisons of Strasburg, Landau, and other 
fortresses, and thus to secure his advance. In the 
meanwhile, he ordered the advanced guard, under 
the command of Count Pahlen, to move on to Saverne. 
Having reached his destination, and being without 
further orders, the Count requested instructions. The 
answer he received was; “ Continue to advance, keep¬ 
ing to the south.” On receipt of this laconic order, 
Count Pahlen entered the mountains of the Vosges, 
bombarded Pfalzburg in passing, and advanced on 
Luneville and Brienne. Count Witgenstein followed 
the advanced guard with the infantry, at an interval of 
several marches, taking the direction of Nancy. 

In the beginning of January, all the nine columns 
were in full march in the heart of France, and on the 
4th of that month, Count Giulay occupied Langres: 
the other corps gradually came up in line with him. 
We must here, however, remark, that the unconnected 
movements of the Austrians, their excessive dissemina¬ 
tion over the wide extent of country between Langres, 
Lyons, and Geneva, and the numbers required for 
blockading the fortresses, and the keeping up of gar¬ 
risons in the towns in our rear, diminished their num¬ 
bers to such an extent, that of 130,000 Austrians there 


ANECDOTES OF GENERAL BLUCHER. 23 

remained only 40,000 with the Grand Army in Cham¬ 
pagne ; in other words, on the scene of action, properly 
so called. Hence, it follows, that Prince Schwarzen- 
berg had at his immediate disposal not more than 
140,000 allied troops; and even from that number 
there must be deducted 20,000, who were detached 
and sent to Lyons. 

As the Grand Army advanced, it entered into com¬ 
munication with that of Silesia, which, at the close of 
the year 1813, was stationed between Coblentz and 
Darmstadt, where it was destined to cross the Rhine, 
and then to manoeuvre in such a way as to be able, in 
the event of a battle, to unite with the Grand Army. 
By a supplementary order, Bliicher was instructed, as 
soon as he should have crossed the Rhine, to blockade 
Mentz, and without much heeding the other fortresses 
on the Moselle and Meuse, to push forward, without 
halting, into the interior of France, so as, by the 15th 
or 20th of January, to join Prince Schwarzenberg, be¬ 
tween Arcis, Troyes, and Vitry. 

Bliicher’s arrangements for the new campaign were 
the sooner completed, that, from the moment of his 
arrival on the French frontier from Leipsic, he had 
never ceased insisting that it was not only inexpedient 
to stop short, but absolutely necessary to prosecute the 
war. His two months’ stay on the Rhine was more 
than he could well bear, counting, as he did, every 
day’s delay for a day lost. Burning with the desire of 
avenging the outraged honour of his country, he could 
think of nothing but the taking of Paris. When the 
Emperor Alexander left Frankfort for Basle, Bliicher 
transferred his head-quarters to Hechst, and wishing to 
divert the attention of the French, on the left bank of 


24 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

the Rhine, from his real purpose, sent abroad reports 
that the invasion of France would take place on the 
side of Switzerland, and that he was appointed to pass 
the winter in Germany in order to keep up a line of 
observation. He affected to complain of this imaginary 
inactivity, and people were the more disposed to 
believe what he said, that all knew the remarkable 
openness of his nature: hence, nobody suspected the 
artifice of the frank old man, who had just completed 
his seventieth year. He even danced on his birth-day, 
telling his guests that he must now pass much of his 
time in merry-making, as he was destined never more 
to listen to the roar of artillery. He even returned 
from Hechst to Frankfort, busied himself in providing 
for the wants of his army, which he assured everybody 
was to remain in cantonments, and, in the meantime, 
secretly made the necessary preparations for the pas¬ 
sage of the Rhine, which he desired to accomplish on 
the 20th December, that is, on new-year’s-day new 
style. Writing to one of his relations, he said : “ At 
day-break I shall cross the Rhine, but before doing so, I 
intend, together with my fellow-soldiers, to wash off in 
the waters of that proud river, every trace of slavery. 
Then, like free Germans, we will set foot on the 
frontiers of the great nation, which is now so humble. 
We shall return as victors, not as vanquished, and our 
country will hail our arrival with gratitude. How 
soothing to us will be the moment, when our kinsmen 
shall meet us with tears of joy !” 

On the 14th December, secret orders were sent to 
the commanders of corps, communicating to each the 
time and place of crossing. Sacken was ordered to 
cross near Manheim, Count Langeron and York at 


THE ALLIES CROSS THE RHINE. 


25 


Caube, and Count St. Priest at Coblentz. During 
the night of the 19th December, Sacken’s corps, along 
with which was the king of Prussia, assembled at the 
spot where the Neckar falls into the Rhine. On the 
opposite bank was a redoubt which commanded the 
mouth of the Neckar and the town of Manheim, and 
which made it impossible to throw a bridge over the 
river, while it continued in the enemy’s hands. At 
four o’clock in the morning, a party of Russian light 
infantry was embarked in boats and on rafts, and was 
not perceived by the enemy till the boats were within a 
few yards of the left bank. The French immediately 
opened a fire of guns and musketry, which was kept up 
for three quarters of an hour. Thrice the light in¬ 
fantry unsuccessfully attempted to storm the work, but, 
in a fourth rush, they succeeded in forcing their way 
into the redoubt and capturing six guns and three 
hundred men. The king of Prussia came up to the 
victors, thanked them, and was greeted with loud 
hurrahs. All this passed in the profound obscurity of 
a winter night. The rising sun showed the Russians 
on French ground and lodged in the enemy’s redoubt. 
Strains of martial music, resounding from all the regi¬ 
ments, now filled the air, and the Rhine was soon 
covered with vessels transporting the troops. By six 
o’clock in the evening the pontoon bridge was com¬ 
pleted, and the whole corps immediately crossed the 
river. 

On this very day Field Marshal Bliicher, with Lan- 
geron and York, crossed the Rhine at Caube. At two 
o’clock in the morning, 200 Prussian light infantry 
were sent down the Rhine in boats, with orders to 
make fast to the custom-house on the opposite bank, 


2G RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

and to make the least possible noise, so as not to give 
the alarm to the French, who had no suspicion of the 
intended attack. The troops reached the bank in 
safety. Here the French attacked the Prussians, but 
the latter being reinforced by detachments which con¬ 
tinued to arrive at short intervals, repulsed the enemy. 
The Prussian advanced guard took possession of the 
villages on the bank, and at seven o’clock in the even¬ 
ing, when the bridge was thrown over, the corps of 
Langeron and York crossed the river, and turned off 
to the left on the road to Mentz. 

At the same time Count St. Priest crossed the 
Rhine at Coblentz, which was occupied by a small de¬ 
tachment of the enemy, defended by a redoubt. In the 
night of the 19th, the Russian troops were embarked 
above and below Coblentz. Here too the French had 
no intimation of their approach, and had hardly time to 
fire a few shots. The light infantry rushed to the 
assault, took the redoubt with its four guns, and imme¬ 
diately entered Coblentz, the inhabitants of which illu¬ 
minated their houses, welcoming the Russians with 
loud acclamations. In one of the squares the Prefect, 
on the occupation of Moscow by the French, had 
erected a monument with the following inscription: 

“ To the Great Napoleon , in honour of the immortal 
Campaign of 1812.” 

Colonel Mardenko, who had been appointed Com¬ 
mandant of Coblentz, left the monument untouched, 
but, under the inscription, caused the following words 
to be engraved: — “ Seen and approved by us, 
Russian Commandant of Coblentz in 1813.” 

Having accomplished the passage of the Rhine, 
Blucher divided his army into two parts; one of them, 


BLUCHER CAPTURES NANCY. 


27 


consisting of the corps of St. Priest, and Kaptsevitch, 
under the command of Count Langeron, he left 
behind, to blockade Mentz and Cassel. Here Count 
Langeron was to wait for the coming up of the Prince 
of Coburg with the troops of several of the German 
Princes, to give up the blockade to him, and then 
rejoin the army of Silesia. Bliicher in person marched 
forward with the other half of his army, that is, with 
the corps of York and Sacken, to the latter of which 
was now attached the corps of Olsoofief. As Marshal 
Marmont stood opposed on the middle Rhine, to the 
army of Silesia, and had concentrated his corps at 
Turckheim, on the road from Manheim to Metz, Gene¬ 
ral Sacken was ordered to advance by that road, and 
York to manoeuvre from Caube against the enemy’s 
left wing. Marshal Marmont, hard pressed in front 
and threatened on his left flank, retired behind the 
Sarre, and made a show, as if he would hinder the 
army from crossing it: but Bliicher having brought 
forward the pontoons, Marmont, without awaiting the 
attack, retreated to Metz. 

Having driven the enemy beyond the Sarre, Bliicher 
once more divided his army by sending York in pursuit 
of Marmont, with orders to watch the fortresses of 
Metz, Thionville and Luxembourg. He himself, with 
Sacken’s corps, marched to Nancy, from whence he 
sent the following report to the Emperor Alexander :— 
“ I think myself happy to be able to lay at Your 
Majesty’s feet the keys of Nancy, the first the Allies 
have entered of the good cities of all France, which 
have a right to send the Mayor to the coronation of the 
French monarchs.” 

u I am truly glad,” answered His Majesty, “ that 


28 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

the glory should have fallen to your lot of taking the 
first of the good cities of old France. By the rapidity 
of your movements you have acquired new titles to the 
gratitude of the allied monarchs. You well know how 
deep an interest I have always taken in your successes, 
and how agreeable for me it is to repeat to you the 
expressions of my sentiments.” 

On reaching Nancy, Bliicher opened a communica¬ 
tion with the Grand Army, and then moved forward to 
Brienne, having directed Prince Stcherbatof to march 
thither on his right, by the road which passes through 
Ligny and St. Dizier. On the 14th of January the 
Field Marshal reached Brienne without interruption, 
but Prince Stcherbatof came upon the rear-guard 
of Marshal Victor at Ligny and immediately attacked 
it. To prevent the enemy from forming, he com¬ 
manded the regiments of Pskolf and Sophia to storm 
Ligny by the great road, and two regiments of light 
infantry to do the same on the left. The artillery, 
very advantageously placed, cannonaded the town to 
which the French were hurrying from the environs. 
Our infantry forced their way into the square, charged 
with the bayonet and put the enemy to flight. At 
St. Dizier likewise the French tried to keep us in 
check, but after a hot siffair retreated. Prince Stcher¬ 
batof now turned to the left and marched over dreary 
heaths, where, by the account of the inhabitants, troops 
had never before been seen, and rejoined the army of 
^Silesia, which had been split into so many detachments. 
Langeron with St. Priest and Kaptsevitch was still 
under the walls of Mentz; York was observing Metz, 
Thionville and Luxembourg ; and Kleist, having quit¬ 
ted Erfurt, had only just crossed the Rhine. At 


ARMY OF THE NORTH. 


29 

Brienne where warlike operations soon began, Field 
Marshal Bliicher had no other troops with him but the 
Russians, amounting to about 26,000 men under the 
command of Sacken and Olsoofief. 

At this period, only three corps of the army of the 
north were ready to take part in the war, the remainder 
being in Holstein with the Crown Prince of Sweden. 
Of these three corps, one was commanded by the 
Duke of Weimar, who had crossed the Rhine at 
Arnheim ; another by Biilow at Antwerp, and a third 
by Baron Wintzengerode, who was stationed at Diis- 
seldorf with only one-half of his corps. The other half, 
commanded by Counts Strogonof and Worontzoff, was 
with the Prince of Sweden, and did not reach France 
before the month of February. His Royal Highness’s 
stay in Holstein was the cause of these three corps 
remaining without a commander-in-chief, who might 
have directed their movements to one common end. 
It is true, that in the absence of the Crown Prince, 
the chief command of the troops was entrusted to the 
Duke of Weimar, as the senior officer; but, in point 
of fact, his authority was very limited, or, to speak 
more accurately, imaginary ; and this for two reasons. 
In the first place, because the Emperor Alexander had 
written to the Duke to act in all things conformably to 
the arrangements of the Crown Prince, who was at a 
distance from the theatre of war: and, secondly, 
because orders were forwarded directly from the head 
quarters of the allied sovereigns to Wintzengerode and 
Biilow, who, of course, acted as if they were not 
under the command of the Duke. 

The care of making the necessary preparations for 
crossing the Rhine had been entrusted, by Baron 


30 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Wintzengerode, to the chief of his advanced-guard, 
Chernisheff, who had every thing in readiness by the 
first of January. Having reported this to the com¬ 
mander of the corps, he received for answer, that he 
must wait till the river was clear of ice, when there 
would be no danger in crossing. It was in vain that 
he represented the possibility of passing the Rhine, and 
the necessity of getting speedily into line with the 
armies in the field. The chief of the corps peremp¬ 
torily refused his consent, and put off the execution of 
the Emperor’s order till a more favourable season. At 
last, however, he yielded to pressing entreaties, and 
gave an order for crossing ; at the same time adding, 
that, in the. event of failure, General Chernish6ff must 
take the responsibility on himself. Having collected 
boats and rafts, the latter embarked seven hundred 
light infantry and Cossacks, under the command of 
Colonel Benkendorf. At ten o’clock in the morning 
they pushed off from the bank, which was crowned by 
thirty-six guns, so placed as to play upon the enemy 
stationed on the opposite bank, on which there were 
two redoubts. The French, confounded by the au¬ 
dacity of an attempt made in open day, rather than 
taken by surprise, abandoned their redoubts, retired to 
some distance, and did not attack the Russians till the 
latter had crossed the river, and occupied a hamlet on 
the left bank. The vessels which ferried across Ben¬ 
kendorf having returned to the right bank, seven hun¬ 
dred more troops were embarked, and with these 
Chernish£ff crossed the river in person. The moment 
he landed he attacked the French and routed them, 
and having occupied the village of Neisse, proceeded 
to Aix-la-Chapelle, whither he was followed by the 


ENGAGEMENT AT LIEGE. 


31 


remaining troops of the advanced-guard, consisting of 
four battalions of light infantry, the Hulans of Vol- 
hynia, two squadrons of hussars, four regiments of 
Cossacks, and a troop of horse artillery. General 
W intzengerode lingered for several days in Diisseldorf 
without giving a single order to the advanced-guard, 
which thus remained unsupported in an enemy’s 
country, as if it had been a flying detachment. At 
length, he began to cross the river with his corps, 
between Diisseldorf and Cologne, and then, by 
echelons, followed the advanced-guard, which, moving 
on without opposition, occupied Liege with the Cos¬ 
sacks on the 12th of January. 

These rapid successes at last attracted the attention 
of Maison, the commander-in-chief of the French 
troops in the Netherlands. With the view of stopping 
the progress of the Russians, he detached General 
Castex with 3,400 foot, 600 horse, and five guns, to 
drive our troops out of Liege, and to defend the pas¬ 
sage of the Meuse. Colonel Benkendorf, who com¬ 
manded the Cossacks, having received intelligence of 
the approach of the French, went out to meet them; but 
before doing so, he announced his intended movement 
to General Chernisheff, who was at a considerable 
distance from him with the regular troops of the ad¬ 
vanced-guard. A very obstinate engagement began, 
almost at the gates of Liege. The regiments of Jiroff 
and Sissoeff for three hours sustained a heavy fire of 
grape and musquetry, and would infallibly have been 
driven from their ground, if Benkendorf had not had 
recourse to a manoeuvre in order to keep in and check 
the greatly superior forces of the enemy. Placing a 
small number of Cossacks in front of his opponents, he 


32 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


divided the remainder into two divisions, and ordered 
them to charge on the flanks as the enemy kept moving 
on. In the meantime, General Chernisheff hearing 
the*cannonade, and receiving no intelligence of its 
cause, owing to the aide-de-camp sent to him not 
having reached the spot where he was, ordered the 
advanced-guard to march forward. Taking the lead 
himself, with two squadrons of hussars and two guns, 
he pushed on at full trot to Liege. Colonel Prince 
Lapoukhin, who had just been detached with a re¬ 
giment of Cossacks to the right by the Namur road, 
received orders to hasten up to the point of attack. 
In a short time, Chernisheff reached the field of battle 
and opened a fire from his guns. At the same time, 
Lapoukhin showed himself on the flank of the French, 
who, being now attacked on all sides, began to retreat 
on St. Tron. Their commander, General Castex, was 
wounded ; but what was of far greater importance, 
this success secured to us the passage of the Meuse, 
which was indispensable to our farther advance into 
France. 

From Liege, Chernisheff marched to Namur, and 
having occupied the town on the 14th January, General 
Wintzengerode halted in it for several days. Having 
under arms but 8,000 foot and 5,000 horse, including 
the Cossacks, he considered that it would be an act of 
rashness to venture with so small a body of troops into 
the interior of France, through a country bristling with 
fortresses. He, therefore, invited General Biilow to 
join him in the advance, and to leave the observation 
of Antwerp and Maison’s army to the Duke of 
Weimar and the English. Biilow having refused, 
nothing remained to Wintzengerode but to go on, 


THE FRENCH RETREAT TO CHALONS. 33 

especially as he had just received His Imperial Majesty’s 
orders to act with all possible vigour. He, therefore, 
left Namur for Laon, the Duke of Weimar and General 
Biilow remaining at Antwerp. 

Thus the allied armies, on different sides, penetrated 
farther and farther into France, meeting no where with 
serious opposition. Before they crossed the frontiers 
of that country, the enemy’s troops were distributed in 
the following manner. The observation of the Upper 
Rhine was entrusted to Marshal Victor; the Middle 
Rhine, from Strasburg to Coblentz, to Marmont; along 
the Rhine, downwards from Coblentz, lay Macdonald^ 
Ney was at Nancy, and Mortier at Langres. The 
different corps were quite independent of each other, 
and received orders directly from Napoleon, who was 
then in Paris. From this arrangement, it necessarily 
followed, that the French were nowhere in sufficient 
force to oppose resistance to the advancing columns, 
and could not avail themselves of the fortresses and 
natural obstacles lying on the line of march. Their 
corps, stationed at five different points, had more of 
the character of reconnoitering detachments, than of 
troops destined for the defence of France. Agreeably 
to the orders of Napoleon, they every where retreated 
in the direction of Chalons. 

Here and there our advanced guards came into col¬ 
lision with the enemy,—that of the Grand Army at 
Epinal, St. Die, and Langres; the Silesian, on crossing 
the Rhine, at Port-a-Mousson and St. Dizier; that of 
the Northern army, at Liege. The garrisons of the 
fortresses occasionally made sallies, without however 
in the slightest degree impeding the advance of the 
Allies. At Remiremont a detachment of the Cossacks 


D 


34 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


of the Grand Army, under the command of Prince 
Stcherbatof, had a skirmish with the enemy, which was 
so far remarkable that it was the first occasion on which 
the sound of a Russian gun had awakened the echoes 
of France. 

In concluding this chapter, we cannot resist noticing 
the different impressions made on Napoleon and Alex¬ 
ander, on receiving the news of the invasion of their 
respective empires. Napoleon was coming out of his 
cabinet, on his way to a meeting of the Legislative 
Assembly, when it was announced to him that the 
Allies had invaded the frontiers. Preserving his usual 
firmness, he said, “ If I could have gained two months’ 
delay, the enemy would not have crossed the Rhine. 
This may lead to bad consequences; but alone, I can 
do nothing ; and if unaided, I must fall: then it will 
be seen that the war is not directed exclusively against 
me.”—It was at a ball at Vilno, in the house of Count 
Benningsen, that the general aide-de-camp of the day, 
Belasheff, informed His Majesty of the arrival of an 
express, with the news that Napoleon had crossed the 
Niemen. The Emperor ordered Balasheff to keep the 
news a secret, and remained till the end of the ball, 
which lasted for an hour longer. Not one of the company 
suspected that the general’s communication was of pe¬ 
culiar importance, and the truth was not known till His 
Majesty’s return to the palace.—Such traits may, on a 
first view, appear to be of little moment, but they are 
worthy of being preserved for posterity, as is every 
thing relating to Alexander and Napoleon, in whose 
actions is concentrated the history of the first fifteen 
years of our century. 


35 


CHAPTER III. 


The Em P eror Alexander enters France —Instructions of Napoleon to 
Public Functionaries - His Majesty's stay at Langres - Question 
of Peace or War— The Emperor's Opinion — Congress of Langres — 
Proposed Conditions of Peace. 


he Emperor having in person led the guards across 
the Rhine, at Basle, returned to that town, in which he 
passed four days, while the allied troops were com¬ 
pleting the preliminary movements in the enemy’s 
country. On the 4th January he left Basle for the 
little town of Dele, lying on the frontiers of Switzer¬ 
land: here he passed his first night in France. On 
the following day he arrived at Montbeliard, the birth¬ 
place of the Empress Maria Feodorovna,* and where 
that princess, who was for upwards of fifty years a 
mother to Russian orphans, passed her early days. On 
the 6th, His Majesty reached Villersexelles; on the 
7th, Combeaufontaine; on the 9th, Faybillot; and on 
the 10th, Langres, distant about two hundred versts 
from the Rhine. 

The road to Langres was exceedingly heavy. Rain, 
snow, frost, and thaw retarded, but did not arrest the 
Emperor or the troops. Though this rapidity of 


* Alexander’s mother.— Tr. 
D 2 


36 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

march was not very agreeable to some of the Allies, 
the Emperor, with his usual activity, continually kept 
pressing them to advance, often against their will. 
Having accustomed himself, from his earliest youth, to 
brave the inconstancy of the elements, he was com¬ 
monly on horseback, and, as usual, was the best 
dressed of all around him. His Majesty’s suite was 
not numerous ; it consisted of some of his aide-de- 
camps and of foreign officers who were at his head¬ 
quarters. During the first day’s march, from Basle to 
Dele, he conversed about the war, and among other 
things said : “ If God enable me to accomplish what 
I have began, I will, on my return to Russia, occupy 
myself with the affairs of the Interior.” 

In the town, where the Emperor slept, he received 
the municipal authorities and notable citizens, and 
assured them of his protection. By his order, the 
necessity of kind treatment of the French, and the 
observance of strict discipline, were inculcated on the 
troops. Tranquillized by the words of his Majesty, 
and by the printed proclamations of the commander-in- 
chief, announcing the pacific intentions of the allied 
monarchs, the inhabitants of the districts, entered by 
the Grand Army, nowhere offered resistance, and 
readily supplied the bivouacs with provisions, hay, oats 
and firewood. But as the campaign proceeded, the 
peasants, in numerous bands, fell on our small detach¬ 
ments. These hostilities of the peasants were at first 
very rare, and originated not so much in the patriotism 
of the French, as in the necessity of defending them¬ 
selves and families from insult, and their property from 
pillage. Although death was denounced as the punish¬ 
ment of every act of violence, it was impossible to 


CONDUCT OF THE PREFECTS. 


37 


prevent excesses of various kinds, and even acts of 
cruelty, especially in villages distant from the high 
road, to which stragglers from regiments, especially 
Germans, found their way. In this respect, the latter 
did not imitate their allies the Russians, who left among 
the French, although they had desecrated our temples, 
the reputation of exemplary discipline. 

The prefects entrusted with the administration of 
the departments, and the civil officers in general, 
almost without exception, quitted the towns, carrying 
with them the public money. When they announced 
the passage of the Rhine by the allied armies, they 
promised the inhabitants to remain with them and 
defend them to the last extremity ; but no sooner 
did our light troops approach the towns, than these 
officers set off for the interior; so that the towns 
at once opened their gates, notwithstanding pompous 
proclamations exhorting the inhabitants to defend them. 
The prefects had been furnished by Napoleon with the 
following instructions for their guidance in the event of 
invasion : 

“ On the appearance of the enemy you are directed 
to leave them the soil only, without the inhabitants, as 
it has been done in many other countries. If it should 
be impossible to remove all the inhabitants, you are to 
leave no means untried to make at least the wealthier 
families quit their homes on the approach of the enemy ; 
for those of our subjects, who shall consent to live 
under their authority, however temporary, must be re¬ 
garded as traitors to the allegiance they have sworn. 
You will order the officers of every jurisdiction to 
remove the records. Every exertion must be made to 
conceal from the enemy, the documents by which they 


38 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


might be enabled to govern the country, and to gain a 
knowledge of the resources available to the supply of 
their troops. As to your person, you are ordered not 
to quit your department so long as there shall remain 
in it a single hamlet unoccupied by the enemy. You 
are to be the last to quit your department so long as 
there shall remain in it a single hamlet unoccupied by 
the enemy. You are to be the last to quit the depart¬ 
ment entrusted to you by His Majesty ; and if it should 
be completely conquered, with the exception of a for¬ 
tress, it is His Majesty’s pleasure, that you should shut 
yourself up in that fortress, and that the moment cir¬ 
cumstances permit, you should leave it, to re-enter on 
the exercise of your functions.” 

Thirty senators were sent by Napoleon into the pro¬ 
vinces adjoining the theatre of war, for the purpose of 
exciting the inhabitants to a general rising by rousing 
their passions ; but these attempts proved as vain as 
the appeals on the same subject which had been issued 
by the local authorities. The French listened with 
coldness to the voice of their government, and, as we 
entered the country, talked only of peace. They 
walked about with gloomy countenances and downcast 
eyes, and received their new guests with cold polite¬ 
ness. Nothing was heard from them but the expres¬ 
sion of anxious wishes for a speedy termination of the 
war. Not a word was spoken by any body of a change 
in the government, or of the Bourbons: it seemed 
indeed, as if the ancient reigning family were com¬ 
pletely forgotten. 

The Emperor arrived at Langres on the 10th of 
January. He passed five days in this town, where the 
Grand Army had assembled, and, by means of its light 


ALEXANDER AT LANGRES. 


39 


detachments, entered into communication with that of 
Silesia; thus realizing one of the leading objects in 
the plan of the campaign as traced by the Emperor at 
Frankfurt. His Majesty found the corps of the Here¬ 
ditary Prince of Wirtemburg and Count Giulay, with 
the reserve in cantonments. Prince Schwarzenberg 
had thought it expedient to give repose to the troops, 
after their fatiguing march from the Rhine, and in 
order to give time to the corps of Witgenstein and 
Wrede to come up into line with them. The Empe¬ 
ror’s arrival at head-quarters at once inspired new life 
into all. Orders were immediately issued for the 
troops to hold themselves in readiness to march. The 
following day (12th January) the Prince of Wirtem- 
berg and Count Giulay were sent forward by the great 
Paris road to Chaumont and Bar-sur-Aube, to drive 
off Mortier, who, with Napoleon’s guard, occupied an 
advantageous position between these towns, near the 
sources of the Marne. The Prince attacked him in 
front, Count Giulay turned his right wing, and Mortier, 
after a somewhat obstinate resistance of two days, re¬ 
treated to Troyes, evacuating Bar-sur-Aube. 

Thus, by the middle of January, the allied armies 
had passed the Jura and the Vosges. And now, with 
the left wing leaning on Lyons, and the right on 
Brienne, the main body stood on the slope of those 
heights where the Moselle, the Meuse, the Marne, 
the Aube, the Seine, and the Loire, take their rise. 
But one step more, and we were on those plains, 
where, in all probability, there awaited us combats for 
life and death,—combats, on the issue of which de¬ 
pended the triumph or the ruin of the coalition formed, 
in the preceding year, for the deliverance of Europe. 


40 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


In these circumstances it is not to be wondered, if, 
before so decisive a movement was hazarded, voices 
should have been heard in favour of peace, and that 
various considerations should have presented them¬ 
selves requiring deliberation. In the course of every 
contest there are epochs at which it is necessary to 
measure the success obtained, and then to consider, 
whether the original plan of a campaign is to be kept 
to, or whether it should be modified by new circum¬ 
stances, especially by political considerations; or, 
finally, whether peace, the ultimate object of war, 
might not be concluded with advantage. Thus, at 
Vitebsk, Napoleon consulted with his leading generals 
whether he should continue his advance on Smolensk, 
or remain where he was, and fortifying various points 
between the Dwina and the Dnieper, winter in that 
country, so as to be able in the following year to con¬ 
tinue the campaign with refreshed troops; or, whether 
he should offer terms of peace to Russia and enter 
into a treaty with her. 

In like manner, on the arrival of the Allied So¬ 
vereigns at Langres, when the fourth part of France 
had been subdued almost without firing a shot, the 
question arose, whether they should rest satisfied with 
the advantages they had gained, and consequently 
make peace with Napoleon, or continue the contest, 
with the intention, if their arms should be crowned with 
success, of re-establishing in Europe the order of things 
as it existed before the Revolution. This proposition 
was fully developed in the following series of questions 
which we shall here give in an abridged form. 

“ Shall the Allies go on and be, as before, guided 
by the result of military operations alone, or shall they 


QUESTION OF PEACE OR WAR. 


41 


render them subordinate to political considerations ? 
Has the object of the treaty of alliance, concluded at 
Toeplitz last year, been attained, viz. to replace 
Austria and Prussia in the positions they respectively 
occupied before the year 1805 ; to fix the Alps, the 
Rhine, and the Pyrenees as the boundaries of France; 
to establish independent states between France and 
the other powers; and to deprive France of all imme¬ 
diate influence beyond her limits ? If the object has 
not been gained, what means should be employed to 
accomplish it ? Is it not necessary to trace new bases, 
so as not to fall a sacrifice to that want of precision 
which has proved fatal to all coalitions hitherto formed ? 
Should Napoleon be deprived of his throne alone, 
or his family with him ? Who is to be raised to 
the throne ? Should the Allies use direct influence in 
the decision of that question ? Should a change of 
dynasty in France form the object of new efforts on 
their side; or should they give up the initiative to the 
French, without offering them either encouragement or 
opposition ? Do the Allies agree to sign a peace, 
which shall fix the Rhine and the Alps as the boundaries 
of France ? Would it not be necessary to proclaim, 
that not only the allied powers, but all Europe enters 
into negociations with France, and, in the event 
of delay, publicly to announce the offers made to 
Napoleon?” 

The allied Cabinets did not all take the same view 
of the wide, complicated, and important subject on 
which hung the destiny of Europe in general, and of 
every state in particular. The arguments in favour of 
peace, towards which some of them showed a leaning, 
appeared altogether inconclusive to the Emperor 


42 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Alexander. The following is the substance of His 
Majesty’s opinion :— 

“ To stay the operations of the armies for any but 
military reasons, would be to deprive ourselves of the 
only decisive means, from the use of which we may 
expect political advantages. The line of Langres, on 
which we now are, cannot be called a military one. 
Langres lies on the road, along which we must march 
to meet the enemy and fight with him. The present 
movements of the allied armies are not the beginning 
of a new campaign, but the consequences of measures 
formerly ratified, and of our very invasion of France. 
It never was in contemplation, that the invasion should 
be limited to vain attempts. It constitutes a mighty 
warlike undertaking, having for its object to annihilate 
the resources of the enemy, to deprive him of the 
means of forming an army, to weaken his power; in 
short, to do him all the harm it is possible to do in 
time of war. I have always insisted on employing our 
forces in this way, and of keeping our acts in unison 
with military considerations. It now only remains for 
us to carry this idea into execution with rapidity and 
judgment. As long as the war continues, it is impos- 
sible to affirm that 4he object of the coalition has been 
accomplished: victory must decide that. I have 
always steadily adhered to this principle, which may 
now crown our plans with success. 

“ As long as a considerable part of Europe was 
occupied by French troops, we were obliged to pro¬ 
portion our demands to the amount of our force, and 
to express our object in general terms; as, for ex¬ 
ample,—the re-establishment of Prussia, Austria, and 
the like. Such expressions do not infer the renun- 


ALEXANDER’S OPINION. 


43 


ciation of those advantages, which Providence, and 
our enormous sacrifices allow us to hope for. This 
truth is established by the example of all wars, and 
even by our own acts. The conditions of peace which 
were unofficially discussed at Frankfort, are not those 
we now desire. At Freiburg we thought of other con¬ 
ditions than we did at Basle ; and those which might 
have been acceptable when we were crossing the Rhine, 
would not have been accepted at Langres. If it is at 
all allowable to enlarge our demands, the principle 
must retain its full force so long as the war continues. 
The measure of its accomplishment will be regulated 
by prudence and state reasons; for no previous agree¬ 
ment between the Allies is in the slightest degree 
binding on them, in relation to the enemy. We have 
enlarged our demands in proportion to our successes ; 
and this, of itself, proves how necessary for us it is to 
encrease the number of the latter, that we may gain 
our ends with the greater certainty. A few days are 
not sufficient to convince us of this ; and therefore, 
we should not, by a hurried pacification, enable the 
enemy to escape from his present dangerous position. 

“ The Allies are unanimously agreed in this, that 
they have no right to canvass the opinion of the 
French on the subject of a ruling dynasty ; and still 
less to oppose it, whatever it may be. We are not 
waging war for that object; consequently it cannot 
become the subject of deliberation. The Allies have 
no desire to take such advantage of victory, as to 
compel the French to express that opinion ; and our 
glory will be the greater, if, with the power in our 
hands, we show ourselves devoid of partiality. 

“ We have now to agree as to the conditions on 


44 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


which peace should be offered to France; it being fully 
understood, that we reserve the right of encreasing 
our demands, by availing ourselves of whatever success 
we may obtain during the course of the negociations. 
I was the first to declare, that we should treat with 
France in the name of all Europe; and I agree that 
she should be allowed no voice in the fixing of frontiers, 
or in any arrangements whatever between the other 
Powers ; though their nature may be communicated to 
her for the sake of information. All negociations with 
her must relate exclusively to her future limits. If the 
negociations should be spun out by delays, or should 
not be brought to the desired conclusion, I shall then 
consider it as a duty to publish to France and to 
Europe the conditions which were offered.” 

“ In conclusion, I must direct the attention of the 
Allies to the forces of the enemy, and to the necessity 
of crushing them, equally during the course of the 
negociations, as in the event of all hope of peace 
having vanished. Napoleon’s weakness consists in the 
disorder which reigns among the greater part of his 
troops, and in the inexperience of his new levied 
recruits, who are strangers to discipline. These are 
the consequences of the defeats he has sustained ; since 
which, he has not had time to re-organize his armies; 
but his condition is daily improving ; and if we con¬ 
tinue to delay, we shall give our enemy the means of 
effacing every trace of his present embarrassments. 

“ Let us even suppose a treaty of peace to be 
concluded. To carry its various stipulations into effect, 
would require much time. How many provinces, how 
many fortresses, from Mantua to the Texel, would 
the enemy have to deliver up, and we to receive ! 


ALEXANDER’S OPINION. 


45 


If, in the meantime, Napoleon were to recover his 
strength, and to avail himself of a thousand circum¬ 
stances which might give rise to fresh discussion on so 
complex a subject, who can assure us that he would 
not tear the treaty in pieces, the instant he had 
caught a glimpse of success? The only security 
against such danger, is to be found in the destruction 
of the armies he is collecting, and in rendering it 
impossible for him to levy fresh troops. All this has 
no relation to a change of dynasty ; but, if Providence 
should turn circumstances, and even Napoleon himself, 
into engines for the destruction of his political ex¬ 
istence, it would neither be contrary to justice, nor to 
the interests of Europe.” 

In conformity to the Emperor’s opinion, it was re¬ 
solved to continue hostilities, and at the same time to 
enter into negociations with Napoleon. His pleni¬ 
potentiary, Caulaincourt, had been waiting for three 
weeks, at the advanced posts, for a passport, to enable 
him to proceed to the town appointed for the Congress. 
For the purpose of drawing up definite instructions for 
the guidance of the Congress, a council was held on 
the 16th January, at which the following persons were 
present: on the part of Russia, Counts Razumofsky 
and Nesselrode; on that of Austria, Prince Metter- 
nich and Count Stadion; on that of Prussia, Prince 
Hardenberg; England was represented by her minister 
for foreign affairs, Lord Castlereagh, who had just 
arrived from London. 

It was proposed to the council, as the sum of their 
deliberations,— 

1st. To enter into negociations with Napoleon. 2nd. 
To act in the name of Europe. 3rd. To leave France 


46 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


those territories only which belonged to her before the 
war of 1792. 4th. If Napoleon should desire it, to 
give him a superficial idea, avoiding details, of the 
intentions of the Allied Sovereigns with respect to the 
ultimate territorial arrangement of Europe. 5th. To 
furnish the plenipotentiaries with instructions of one 
and the same import; and 6th. In the event of the 
negociations not leading to the desired end, to an¬ 
nounce this to the French nation. 

When the Allied Sovereigns had given their sanc¬ 
tion to these articles, the following plenipotentiaries 
were appointed to the Congress which was destined to 
be held at Chatillon on the Seine : on our part, Count 
Razumofsky; on that of Austria, Count Stadion; on 
that of Prussia, Baron Humboldt; and on that of 
England, Lords Cathcart, Aberdeen, and General 
Stuart. 

The instructions given to the plenipotentiaries were, 
—that they should negociate on behalf of all Europe, 
and not in name of the four Powers alone, by whom 
they were commissioned; the latter pledging them¬ 
selves that the other States, who were not represented 
at the Congress, should adhere to its acts. The pleni¬ 
potentiaries were djesired to confine themselves to two 
objects only. In the first place, to the future 
boundaries of France; and in the second, to the 
general arrangement of the affairs of Europe. With 
respect to the first article, it was proposed to 
Napoleon, that he should give up all the conquests 
made by France since the year 1792. As to the 
second, he was required, 1st, to acknowledge the 
independence of Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and 
Holland; which last, with some additions of territory, 


CONDITIONS OF PEACE. 


47 


was to belong to the house of Orange; 2ndly, to 
restore the Spanish sceptre to Ferdinand VII.; 3dly, 
to deliver over, within a given time, the fortresses in 
the countries which had been conquered by France; 
Mentz, for instance, within eight days after the signing 
of peace, and Luxembourg, Antwerp, Bergen-op- 
Zoom, Mantua, Peschiera, Palma-Nova, and Venice, 
within ten days:—to put into the hands of the Allies, 
within four days, the three fortresses of Befort, 
Besan^on and Huningen, to be kept by them in the 
nature of pledges, till the complete fulfilment of all the 
stipulations in the treaty of peace. 4thly, To renounce 
the titles of King of Italy and Protector of the 
Rhenish and Swiss Confederations. In return for all 
which sacrifices, England agreed to restore the 
colonies she had conquered during the war. 

Although the plenipotentiaries received the same in¬ 
structions, it did not follow that all the cabinets were 
alike desirous to bring the war to a close. Some, who 
were exhausted by the campaign and by the sacrifices 
connected with it, considered peace as indispensable; 
but the Emperor Alexander looked at events in an¬ 
other point of view. On sending Count Razumofsky 
to the Congress, he desired him to be in no hurry to 
act, and on no account to sign any thing without an 
express order to that effect. The plenipotentiary acted 
conformably to the will of his Sovereign, and during 
the sitting of the Congress received repeated as¬ 
surances of His Majesty’s approbation of his prudent 
circumspection. 

Thus in the course of His Majesty’s fifteen days’ 
stay at Langres, the question of peace or war was 
decided, and the misunderstandings which had arisen 


48 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


on this important subject were removed. Hardly was 
this task accomplished, when on the night of the 19th 
January, an officer sent from Chaumont by General 
Toll, brought the intelligence of Napoleon’s having 
begun to act on the offensive. An hour had not 
elapsed before His Majesty, in a dark and stormy 
night, was on his way from Langres to Chaumont, the 
head-quarters of Prince Schwartzenberg. Immediately 
after his departure, the plenipotentiaries left Langres 
for the Congress of Chatillon. Warlike operations, 
and diplomatic negociations thus began at the same 
time, and continued in uninterrupted connexion during 
the rest of the campaign. 


CHAPTER IV. 


Napoleon arrives at Chalons—Commencement of Military Operations — 
Movements of the Russian Forces—Critical Position of Bliicher — 
Affair of Brienne, on 17 th January—Bliicher retires—Preparations 
to attack Napoleon—Order of the Allied Army — Victory of Brienne — 
Honours conferred by the Emperor Alexander * 


It was during the Emperor Alexander’s stay at Lan- 
gres that Napoleon quitted Paris for the army. He 
had put off his departure from day to day, waiting for 
the arrival of troops from Spain, and for the results of 
his exertions in the formation and equipment of armies : 
but receiving daily reports of the rapid advance of the 
Allies into the heart of France, it was impossible for 
him to remain longer in Paris, and he therefore re¬ 
solved to open the campaign, though his preparations 
for war were not yet completed. He invested his consort 
with the regency of the empire, and entrusted the mi¬ 
litary command of Paris to his brother Joseph. On 
leaving the capital he gave orders, for the first time 
since he had mounted the throne, that prayers should 
be read in all the churches for the success of his 
arms. 

Towards evening, on the 14th of January, Chalons 
resounded with cries of “ Long live the Emperor !” 
The troops repeated the shouts of the people, the 


50 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


trumpets sounded, the drums beat, and the colours 
were unfurled. The thunder of artillery and the ring¬ 
ing of bells announced the arrival of Napoleon. 

Chalons was the head-quarters of that army, which 
Napoleon chose to command in person: the following 
were the positions which it occupied. The centre, 
composed of the corps of Marshals Ney, Victor, and 
Marmont, was stationed between Chalons and Vitry; 
the left wing, under Marshal Macdonald was moving 
up from Mezieres through Rhetel to Chalons, and the 
right, commanded by Marshal Mortier, was at Troyes. 
Farther to the right, at Auxerre, on the banks of the 
Yonne, lay the detachment of General Alix. Napo¬ 
leon instantly issued orders for the troops to advance. 
His object was to unite his whole forces at Vitry, 
march through St. Dizier on Joinville and Chaumont, 
and thus placing himself between the army of Silesia 
and the Grand Army, to charge the heads of the 
columns of the latter, and to rout its corps in detail. 
Marshal Augereau was ordered, at the same time, to 
drive back the Austrians from Lyons into Switzerland, 
to force his way into that republic, stir up the people 
to insurrection, and then to act on the communications 
of the Grand Army of the Allies. General Maison, 
who was in command of a detached corps, was charged 
with the defence of the Netherlands and the northern 
frontiers of France. 

Napoleon remained only twelve hours in Chalons. 
From that town he went on to Vitry, and the day fol¬ 
lowing to St. Dizier, where he attacked the detach¬ 
ment of General Lanskoy, who had been left there by 
Bliicher to keep up his communications on the side of 
Bar-le-Duc with the advanced troops of York. Bv 





























COMMENCEMENT OF MILITARY OPERATIONS. 51 

this movement Napoleon cut off the corps of the 
Prussian Field Marshal from that of York, who was in 
the country around Metz, observing the fortresses on 
the Meuse. At St. Dizier, Napoleon received from 
the inhabitants, as well as from the prisoners and his 
spies, certain intelligence, which had not reached him 
at Chalons, that the army of Silesia, having crossed 
the Marne at St. Dizier and Joinville, was advancing 
towards Arcis, with the intention of crossing the Aube 
at Lesmont, while the Grand Army was widely dissemi¬ 
nated, partly between Langres, Chaumont, and Bar- 
sur-Aube, and partly about Chatillon and Dijon. In 
these circumstances two plans of action presented 
themselves: the first was to follow Bliicher and fall 
upon him during his passage of the Aube; the second, 
which was in conformity to his original intention, was 
to continue his movement on Joinville and Chaumont 
against the Grand Army. He chose the former, and 
started for the Aube. 

On reading Lanskoy’s report of his having been 
driven out of St. Dizier by superior numbers and 
forced to retreat to Vassy, Bliicher took this attack 
for an ordinary reconnoissance, and, of course, paid no 
attention to it. He ordered Lanskoy to continue to 
watch the roads to Vassy and Joinville, and Sacken to 
take up a position at Lesmont, and with his advanced 
guards to occupy Arcis-sur-Aube and Troyes, whither 
all the cavalry had been sent forward. While these 
dispositions were being carried into execution, the 
Field-Marshal was at the castle of Brienne with the 
two divisions of Olsoofief only; and not once suspecting 
Napoleon’s arrival, was engaged, with all his usual 
confidence, in meditating new plans of offensive 
E 2 


52 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


warfare. About mid-day, a prisoner was brought in to 
him from the advanced posts. This was Colonel 
Bernard of the General Staff, who had been sent by 
Napoleon to Troyes with an order for Marshal Mortier 
to close up to his, Napoleon’s, left wing, for the 
purpose of making a combined attack on Bliicher. 
From this officer he received detailed information of 
the ultimate projects of Napoleon, who, by cross roads 
and forced marches was now advancing straight on 
Brienne through Montierander. 

All doubt was now at an end. The Field Marshal 
instantly sent an order to Sacken to quit Lesmont and 
join him at Brienne. As Bliicher did not intend 
giving battle where he was, he resolved to keep his 
ground only till Sacken should have joined him, and 
then, if the enemy should press upon him, to retire to a 
strong position at Trannes between Brienne and Bar- 
sur-Aube, in order to get into the closest possible com¬ 
munication with the Grand Army, whose advanced 
posts were in the neighbourhood of the latter town. 
He felt very uneasy about the cavalry, which was 
already beyond the Aube, doubting whether it could 
reach in due time the place of junction where it would 
be required for patrols and reconnoitring parties. By 
good luck Count Witgenstein’s advanced guard, under 
the command of Count Pahlen, now showed itself in 
the rear of the Silesian army. Our readers will re¬ 
member that these troops had left the commander of 
the corps on the Rhine, and had advanced singly 
between the Grand and the Silesian armies. On this 
day, the 17th of January, it was Count Pahlen’s in¬ 
tention to march from Dienville to Piney by the 
Troyes road. Part of his advanced guard had already 


MOVEMENTS OF THE RUSSIAN FORCES. 


53 


crossed the Aube, but, on receiving an invitation from 
Bliicher to join him, the Count immediately complied 
with it, marched through Brienne, and forming on the 
road by which the enemy was expected, covered 
Sacken’s movement from Lesmont to Brienne. 

At Chaumont, on the night of 16th, Prince Schwar- 
zenberg received the news of the French having begun 
to act on the offensive, and of Lanskoy’s having been 
driven out of St. Dizier. This intelligence produced 
a very different effect on the Prince from what it had 
done on Bliicher. Far from treating it with contempt, 
as did the latter, he justly concluded, that Napoleon 
had at last opened the campaign. Aide-de-camps were 
instantly sent off on every side with orders for the 
troops to assemble at Bar-sur-Aube. Promptitude was 
the more necessary that the corps lay widely distant 
from each other. On the morning of the 17th, the 
Emperor Alexander reached Chaumont, the head¬ 
quarters of Prince Schwarzenberg, having, before 
quitting Langres, given orders to Count Barclay in¬ 
stantly to proceed to Chaumont with the reserve. On 
his arrival, his Majesty, along with the Prince, con¬ 
certed the necessary measures for disengaging Bliicher, 
who was exposed to evident danger at Brienne, and to 
hinder the enemy from taking advantage of the want 
of concentration in the allied armies. As the enemy’s 
real object was still a secret, the following orders were 
issued. First, Count W^d6 and Witgenstein (who 
had just arrived from the Rhine) to march on Joinville 
and Vassy, in order to keep the French in check if 
they should advance on Chaumont. Secondly, the 
corps of the Hereditary Prince of Wirtemburg, Count 
Giulay, and the reserves of Count Barclay, to unite at 


54 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Bar-sur-Aube. Thirdly, Count Colioredo, who but 
a few days before had set out from Dijon, to march to 
the same point and join the Grand Army. 

In the meantime, while Bliicher was waiting for 
Sacken, in order to retire to Trannes, Napoleon 
having marched from St. Dizier through Montierander, 
reached Mezieres at two o’clock in the afternoon. He 
instantly attacked Count Pahlen, who was standing 
between that town, Lassicour, and Brienne, and 
keeping possession of the great road, which it was 
necessary for us to retain in our hands at any cost, in 
order to give Sacken time to come up from Lesmont 
and pass through Brienne, then occupied by Olsoofief. 
The onset grew brisker every minute. The French 
balls already began to pass over the advanced-guard, 
and to fall among Sacken’s columns which had arrived 
from the banks of the Aube. Napoleon could not 
bring his whole forces at once into line, as a great part 
of them had not yet had time to reach the field of 
action ; but by degrees, as they came up, the affair 
became serious. Olsoofief’s guns, which Bliicher had 
placed under the orders of №кёВп, who was in com¬ 
mand of the artillery of Sacken’s corps, were brought 
out of the town by that officer, and placed in battery. 
A regiment of light infantry threw out skirmishers ; 
the other regiments stood in close columns, covered by 
the streets and gardens, and the great road was thus 
entirely cleared for Sacken’s passage through Brienne. 
Having passed through the town, he formed in the 
reserve, and Count Pahlen gradually retired, not being 
in a condition, with his small detachment, to keep the 
increasing forces of the enemy at bay. Besides, he 
had attained his object, which was to gain time for the 


AFFAIR OF BRIENNE, 


55 


infantry to arrive and to take up their appointed ground. 
He placed the cavalry on the right flank, uncovered the 
town, and cleared the way for the artillery which now 
began to play. 

The enemy showered shells on the town, and instantly 
set it on fire. Necessity compelled Napoleon to re¬ 
duce to ashes the place where he was educated, and 
where he had spent the happy days of his boyhood. 
Part of his infantry charged the fifteenth company of 
artillery and took several guns, and his dragoons 
dashed into Brienne in the midst of the spreading 
flames, the bursting of grenades, and the crash of 
falling tiles. Niketin, on receiving an order from 
Sacken to increase his fire, placed twenty-four guns 
against the enemy’s left flank, which forced them to 
retreat, and to abandon the guns they had taken from 
our 15th company. At the same time, Count Pahlen, 
though not belonging to the army of Silesia, yet as 
the oldest General of cavalry, took the command of 
all the horse, charged the left wing of the French and 
took eight guns. The town remained in our hands, 
and the combat gradually slackened. 

Considering the battle to be ended, Field Marshal 
Bliicher retired to pass the night in the castle of 
Brienne, which is situated on a neighbouring eminence, 
and the officers of his staff parted to seek shelter for 
the night. All at once a fire of musketry was heard, 
and crowds of the enemy who had stolen through the 
park, broke into the castle with loud shouts and cries. 
At this moment the Field Marshal was in the top story 
looking at the line of fires which the enemy were 
kindling in front of their bivouacs. He hastened 
down stairs and set off towards the town, but was soon 


56 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


met by a Cossack, who informed him that the French 
had forced their way into Brienne. By the light of 
the flames of the burning houses, Bliicher could plainly 
distinguish the enemy’s horse coming straight up to 
him at a trot. He turned aside into a cross road, and 
as he continued to go at a walk, the chief of his staff, 
General Gneisenau, said to him, “ Can it be your 
wish, to be carried in triumph to Paris ?” The Field- 
Marshal then put spurs to his horse, and happily 
reached his troops. Several French squadrons had 
approached the town unperceived, and finding that 
our people had neglected to place guards at the en¬ 
trances, charged along the street where Sacken was 
then giving orders. He backed his horse against a 
house which stood near him, and coolly waited till the 
enemy had passed by without recognizing, in their 
hurry, him who, but two months afterwards, was 
Governor-General of Paris. 

After this alarm, the Field Marshal ordered the 
castle to be attacked and the town to be entirely 
cleared of the enemy, who had established themselves 
in some houses in the suburbs. Olsoofief advanced 
twice to the assault of the castle, not only without 
success, but with heavy loss, owing to the enemy being 
protected by the darkness, while our columns and 
sharpshooters advancing in the full glare of the burning 
edifices, presented a mark which it was almost impos¬ 
sible to miss. The French kept possession of the 
castle, as did Sacken of the town, in which he passed 
the night. At two о clock in the morning he received 
orders to retire to the position at Trannes on the road 
to Bar-sur-Aube, where the Grand Army now was. 

Thus ended Napoleon’s first affair in France, at 


RESULT OF THE AFFAIR OF BRIENNE. 


57 


which, on the side of the Allies, there were none but 
Russian troops present. Fate had thus ordained that 
our countrymen should stand the first brunt of this 
campaign, and not only repulse all the attacks of 
an enemy superior to them in numbers, but even 
capture eight pieces of cannon. Here Sacken, who, 
as commanding the troops engaged, had been charged 
by Bliicher with the arrangement of details, gave a 
bright display of that immoveable firmness which forms 
the peculiar characteristic of his military career. Both 
Russians and French fought with inveterate obstinacy. 
The loss on either side, in killed and wounded, 
amounted to three thousand men. Success was abso¬ 
lutely necessary to Napoleon on opening the campaign 
as a means of raising the spirits of the troops and 
people, of resuscitating their former opinion of his 
invincibility and of tranquillizing the empire, now 
alarmed by the rapid advance of the Allies. The 
defence of the Russians was desperate. They had not 
entered France to yield up their renown, in the outset 
of the campaign, to an enemy over whom they had 
triumphed for two years together. Napoleon in an¬ 
nouncing this affair, spoke of it as of a prodigious 
victory: as he did not gain it, however, on the field of 
battle, it may be that he thought he was entitled to 
appropriate it to himself, for the single reason that 
Bliicher retired, on the morning after, to the distance 
of a few versts. This combat, however, contributed in 
no other respect to his satisfaction, for he did not 
succeed in accomplishing his purpose of falling on the 
rear of the army of Silesia, and cutting it off from the 
Grand Army. On the contrary, the combat was 
productive of this beneficial consequence to the 


58 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Allies, that it proved the immediate occasion of their 
junction. 

Napoleon had two means in his power of gaining a 
decided superiority. The first was to assemble all his 
forces at Sommevoir after occupying St. Dizier, and, 
without halting, to march straight on Colombe, and 
Bar-sur-Aube, there to attack Count Giulay, and the 
Hereditary Prince of Wirtemburg, and driving them 
before him to Bar-sur-Seine, at one and the same time 
separate Bliicher from Schwarzenberg, who would have 
been obliged, with all haste, to assemble his different 
corps at Langres, and probably in the rear of that town. 
Napoleon might then have turned on Bliicher and beat 
him ; for he was much the stronger of the two, and 
Bliicher would not have disputed the ground with the 
obstinacy he displayed at Brienne, where a safe retreat 
was always open to him, but would have been com¬ 
pelled to think only of saving his army. The second 
plan, which would have afforded a reasonable hope of 
victory, was the following:—If Napoleon had the defeat 
of Bliicher singly in view, then, instead of keeping 
away to the right, it seems evident that he should have 
marched from Sommevoir on Dienville, that is, on 
Bliicher’s communications with Prince Schwarzenberg, 
and have attacked him in the rear. Napoleon did not 
follow either of these plans ; and the useless bloodshed 
of the 17th January, which gave him but a momentary 
possession of the field of battle, was productive of 
positive injury to him, as it led to the concentration of 
the allied forces. 

It may further be added that Napoleon, who in all 
his previous wars had displayed consummate skill in 
commencing operations, did not on the present oc- 


PREPARATIONS TO ATTACK NAPOLEON. 59 

casion act up to his reputation, but opened the cam¬ 
paign unseasonably. Let us suppose that it did enter 
into his plans to defend the Rhine, and to hinder the 
Allies from entering France: but when they had once 
advanced over a great extent of country, why did he 
not act on their communications ? If he had under¬ 
taken his forward movement four days later, when the 
rear of our columns would not have been far from 
Troyes, and then pushed on from Chalons, through 
Joinville and Chaumont, he would have stood on the 
communications of the Grand Army, and would 
himself have been leaning on Metz, Verdun, and other 
fortresses. In such circumstances Prince Schwarzen- 
berg must undoubtedly have retreated. The solidity 
of this remark is so far justified by Napoleon’s resort¬ 
ing at the end of the campaign, to the manoeuvre we 
have now described : but it was made too late to be 
attended with success ; for his means were not then so 
considerable as they were in the beginning of the war. 
Besides, political circumstances had by that time so far 
ripened, that a single bold step of the Allies sufficed 
to overthrow the edifice of his power. 

On the following day, 18 th January, preparations 
were made to attack Napoleon. For that purpose the 
Grand Army marched for Trannes, with the exception 
of Counts Witgenstein and Wrede who had been 
ordered to cover the right wing of the army, by taking 
possession of Vassy and St. Dizier ; for it was not yet 
known, that General York had, that very day, on his 
way from Metz, taken the latter of these towns.— 
Count Witgenstein, agreeably to the orders he had 
received, occupied Vassy and halted theie. On the 
other hand Count Wrede, having learned on his way 


60 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


to Joinville, that preparations were making for a 
general engagement, and that Vassy was already in the 
hands of the Allies, justly reckoned, that the enemy 
could not be in force in that quarter. Without orders, 
and of his own authority, he changed the direction of 
his corps, led it through Doulevent and Tremilly to 
Soulaine, and, reaching within twenty-four hours the 
enemy’s left wing, contributed greatly, by this skilful 
manoeuvre, to the victory gained on the 20th January. 
Count Wrede was fully convinced of the groundless¬ 
ness of all apprehension of danger on the right wing of 
the army, and when he reported his march on Soulaine 
to Prince Schwarzenberg, requested him to order 
Count Witgenstein to proceed to Brienne. His sug¬ 
gestion, however, met with no attention, and Count 
Witgenstein fruitlessly remained at Vassy while the 
allied armies were engaged with Napoleon. 

After the affair of Brienne, Napoleon did not attack 
Bliicher at Trannes, although he was superior in force. 
He remained two days at Brienne and occupied Dien- 
ville, La Rothiere, Chaumenil, La Giberie and Petit- 
Menil, villages in front of his position. The French 
advanced guard, was somewhat in advance of these 
villages and occasionally fired cannon shot at the rear¬ 
guard of the army of Silesia, commanded by Count 
Pahlen. Napoleon’s inactivity during the two days 
consumed in effecting the junction of the two armies, 
appeared so utterly incredible that the Emperor Alex¬ 
ander sent several times to inquire if he actually re¬ 
mained in the position he had taken up. Once only, 
a pretty considerable body of French troops marched 
from Brienne to Lesmont, but returned again to their 
position. We may be allowed to conclude that Napo- 









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ORDER OF THE ALLIED ARMY. 61 

leon had been meditating some plan, which he did not 
carry into execution. It has been asserted that his 
inactivity was caused by false intelligence of the Grand 
Army being on the march to Auxerre, and that he 
spent these two days at Brienne with the intention of 
waiting the completion of this movement, in order to 
fall separately upon one or other of the allied armies. 

In the course of the last two days, the face of affairs 
had completely changed. On the 16th January, 
Napoleon was in full advance, having on his side all 
the advantages which in time of war are always within 
the grasp of him, who first opens the campaign. He 
threatened our line of communications, and had it in 
his power to beat the allied forces in detail, they being 
scattered over so wide an extent of country, that in the 
event of a sudden onfall, it would have been impossible 
to concentrate them in time for mutual defence. But 
now, on the evening of the 19 th, the mass of these 
troops, already concentrated, lay before him, covering 
and securing their communications, and prepared to 
act on the offensive. 

The Emperor Alexander and the King of Prussia 
having slept at Chaumont, set out from that town early 
on the morning of the 20th January, by the way of 
Bar-sur-Aube, and at two o’clock arrived on the 
heights of Trannes. Here their majesties were met 
by the three commanders-in-chief, Prince Schwarzen- 
berg, Blucher, and Barclay, who were only waiting for 
the orders of the Allied Monarchs to engage. The 
troops were ranged in the following order of battle. 
The left wing, consisting of Austrians, under the com¬ 
mand of Count Giulay, was posted close to the banks 
of the Aube, and opposite to the village of Jesseins. 


62 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


The centre was at Trannes, composed of Sacken’s 
corps, in which were present the cavalry of General 
Vassiltchikof,—the 6th, or Prince Stcherbatof’s corps 
of infantry,—the 9th, or Olsoofief’s,—and the 11th, or 
Count Lieven’s: add to these the Prussian detachment 
of Prince Biron. On the right wing the Hereditary 
Prince of Wirtemburg was at Edance, and still farther 
to his right, General Wrede at Soulaine. Behind 
Trannes was stationed the reserve, under the com¬ 
mand of the Grand Duke Constantine. It was formed 
of our grenadiers and the second and third division of 
cuirassiers; the guards, with the remainder of the 
cavalry and artillery of the reserve, were still farther in 
the rear of Arconval and Eleville. 

There were a hundred thousand men under arms, of 
whom 40,000 were Russians, 20,000 Austrians, 8000 
Prussians, 17,000 Bavarians, and 14,000 Wirtem- 
bergers. Not more than 80,000, however, took part 
in the combat, as the reserve was not called into 
action. In this number we do not include Count 
Colloredo’s Austrian corps of 25,000 men, which did 
not reach Vandceuvres from Bar-sur-Seine till past two 
o’clock in the afternoon, having been ordered to march 
from the former town along the left bank of the Aube, 
in order to wrest the bridge of Dienville out of the 
hands of the enemy. It followed that Count Col- 
loredo did not arrive on the field of battle till the en¬ 
gagement was over. All the troops were placed under 
the command of Marshal Bliicher, to whom the sove¬ 
reigns had confided the ordering of the battle. 

The weather was gloomy, and a cold wind blew in 
gusts driving heavy snow showers, which for some 
minutes at a time rendered every thing invisible; but 


ORDER OF BATTLE. 


63 


when the sky cleared up, the lines of the French troops 
were plainly to be seen, formed in order of battle 
before Brienne. The extremity of their right wing, 
which was under the command of General Gerard, was 
at Dienville, the left wing, commanded by Marshal 
Marmont, rested on Morvilliers, and the centre oc¬ 
cupied La Rothiere, la Giberie, Petit-Menil and 
Chaumenil. In the rear of these villages were stationed 
the reserve and the guard, under the command of 
Marshals Mortier, Oudinot, and Ney. In the enemy’s 
army there were seventy thousand men under arms. 
For those who, in the campaigns of former years, had 
witnessed the impetuous attacks of Napoleon, it was 
curious to see this once despotic sovereign of the 
battle-field (in whose presence but few generals ven¬ 
tured to manoeuvre, striving only to ward off his blows), 
now that the war had been carried into the heart of 
France, standing motionless at Brienne, that place so 
fruitful to him in youthful recollections, and modestly 
waiting to see what the Allies would do. Even the 
choice of his position was injudicious. In the event of 
victory, he could not take advantage of it, for the 
Allies, if defeated, could retreat, unmolested, beyond 
Bai-sur-Aube, on the direct line of their communica¬ 
tions. 

From the heights of Trannes there was a very exten¬ 
sive view of the surrounding country. This circumstance 
gave occasion to a great deal of discussion about the 
approaching battle, with reference especially to the 
most advantageous way of attacking the enemy. 
Prince Schwarzenberg, and the chief of his staff, 
Count Radetsky, kept to their original plan, in con¬ 
formity to which orders had already been sent to the 


64 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


chiefs of corps to attack the enemy in front, and to 
General Wrede to turn the right wing. General Toll, 
in the presence of the Emperor Alexander, objected : 
“ that the position itself pointed out the necessity of 
making the principal attack on the left wing of the 
French, so as to cut off their passage at Lesmont, the 
only point on which they could retreat. To gain this 
object,” he continued, “ the corps of the Hereditary 
Prince of Wirtemburg, and the grenadier corps, with 
the second and third divisions of cuirassiers should be 
directed against Napoleon’s left wing,—to endeavour, 
jointly with the corps of General Wrede, to press 
back the enemy on the Aube and seize the passage at 
Lesmont. The corps of the guards should be left in 
reserve, behind the centre, and keeping time with the 
attack of the right wing, it should bring forward its 
right flank, in order, by every possible means, to force 
the enemy back on the Aube, where he has no passage, 
and, by that means, to rout him completely and capture 
his artillery.” This plan was partially carried into 
execution. The corps of the Hereditary Prince, with a 
brigade of grenadiers, was ordered to connect the 
movements of the centre with the corps of Count 
Wr6d6. 

During these discussions it was impossible to look at 
Field Marshal Bliicher without a feeling of deep in¬ 
terest. He kept silence, although in his capacity of 
leader in the battle, he was one of the principal per¬ 
sonages in the fearful drama which was just going to 
begin. It seemed as if he were only waiting for the 
moment of action to settle his old accounts with the 
French at the bloody banquet of death. The day 
before, Prince Schwarzenberg had sent one of his 


ORDER TO ATTACK. 


65 


Confidential Generals to ask his opinion on the subject 
of the proposed attack. Instead of strategetical re¬ 
marks, he received the following answer. “ We must 
march to Paris. Napoleon has been in all the capitals 
of the Continent, and it is our duty to return the 
compliment, and to make him descend from a throne, 
which it would have been well for Europe and our 
Sovereigns, that he had never mounted. We shall 
have no repose till we pull him down.” 

In order to distinguish the troops, which belonged to 
six different sovereigns, and who, for the first time, 
here fought united, it was ordered that all, from the 
General to the private soldier, should wear a white 
band on the left arm. Afterwards, on entering Paris, 
this badge contributed not a little to give the French 
the false idea that the colour of the band showed the 
intention of the Allied Monarchs to replace the Bour¬ 
bons on the throne of France. But that, at this time, 
such an idea had not entered into their combinations, 
is proved by the following words, spoken by the Em¬ 
peror Alexander. General Jomini having stated to 
the Emperor, that his colour would probably give 
occasion to conjectures, as to the feeling of the Allied 
Sovereigns towards the Bourbons, his Majesty replied : 
“ What have I to do with them ?” 

The monarchs now gave the order to attack. Count 
Giulay advanced on Dienville, the Hereditary Prince 
of Wirtemberg on La Giberie, Sacken on La Rothiere, 
and Count W^d4 moved from Soulaine on Morvilliers. 
The Prince of Wirtemberg, on his way to La Giberie, 
met the enemy in the outskirts of a wood, from which 
he dislodged him with his sharpshooters, and then, 
approaching a village occupied by the French, formed 

F 


66 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

his troops in column as they came out of the wood, 
and, at the point of the bayonet, drove the enemy 
from the position, and took three pieces of cannon. 
The possession of this village was of advantage to us, 
inasmuch as it served as a connecting link in the chain 
of operations of the whole line, that is, between the 
centre, commanded by Sacken and Count Wrede’s left 
wing. This connexion being secured, Sacken was 
ordered to attack La Rothiere, and Giulay, Dienville. 

As the deep ground was likely to impede the progress 
of the artillery, Nik£tin, who commanded that arm in 
Sacken’s corps, requested permission to advance with 
only half the number of his guns, thirty-six, and to 
leave the remaining thirty-six on the heights of Trannes, 
where, in the event of the failure of the attack, they 
would be useful for defence. He added, that he would 
answer for success, if he were allowed to take as many 
men and horses from the guns left in position, as he 
required. This proposal was reported to Field-Marshal 
Bliicher, who at once assented to it. General Nik6tin 
now ordered ten horses to be put to each of the heavy 
guns; six to the light, and five to the caissons, and 
placing the men on the guns and tumbrils, set off* at 
full speed for the great road. On reaching it, he formed 
line under a heavy discharge from the enemy’s guns, 
and opened the cannonade. The French dragoons 
now advanced to the attack, and the battery, which was 
not yet covered, (the regiments appointed for that 
purpose being still a great way behind) ceased firing. 
The cannonniers placed the charges on their cloaks, 
close by the guns, to save time in carrying them, and 
allowing the dragoons to approach within seven hundred 
yards, opened so heavy a fire of ^ound and grape, that 


BATTLE OF BRIENNE. 


67 


the French, before they had got within two hundred 
yards of them, were forced to wheel about and retreat 
in disorder. The snow now fell so thick that objects 
were no longer discernible at the shortest distance, and 
the firing again ceased for a few minutes. In a short 
time, however, it began to freeze, and men and horses 
were sent for the thirty-six guns left at Trannes, which 
they quickly brought up. 

While this was going on, the infantry and cavalry 
of General Sacken’s corps drew near, and the attack 
proceeded on all points. Count Lieven advanced on 
La Rothiere; and Prince Stcherbatof, on Sacken’s 
right, went up to attack the enemy’s centre, which was 
defended by a battery of twenty-eight guns: Olsoofief 
remained in the reserve. Heedless of the heavy fire 
of the enemy, the infantry neither halted nor wavered 
for an instant. Without firing a single shot, our re¬ 
giments advanced in perfect order, and that of the 
Dneiper, which led the Prince’s column, was headed 
by the regimental singers. Lanskoy, with the third 
division of hussars, charged the enemy’s horse and 
broke them ; but as he was pursuing, he was attacked 
and driven back in his turn ; but being immediately 
reinforced by the division of dragoons of Pantchulidzef, 
the French cavalry was again charged, broken, and 
driven off the ground, leaving uncovered the battery 
of twenty-eight guns, which was immediately stormed 
by Stcherbatof’s corps and Vassiltchikof’s cavalry. 
The attacks we have described were, in the beginning, 
visible to the Emperor; but as they went on, the 
troops were soon hidden from his view by a dense cloud 
of smoke, from the centre of which was heard only 
the roar of artillery. This lasted for some minutes ; 

F 2 


68 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


but hardly had the smoke begun to clear away, when 
an aide-de-camp arrived with the report of the capture 
of the battery. After this feat, Stcherbatof remaining 
in person with one division to keep possession of the 
battery, sent off the other to the left to reinforce 
Count Lieven at La Rothiere. This village formed 
the key of the enemy’s position; but it soon passed 
into the hands of Sacken. Till nine o’clock in the 
evening the French continued their attempts to recover 
it, but in vain. 

The Prince of Wirtemberg, whose left wing was 
already secured by the successes of the Russians in 
the centre, approached Petit-Menil, wrested it from 
the enemy, and took nine pieces of cannon. The 
movements of Count Wrede were equally rapid and 
successful. At the first shock with the French, the 
Austrian cavalry of his corps captured six pieces of 
artillery, and the Count afterwards took the village of 
Chaumenil by assault, capturing six guns. Count 
Guilay alone made several attempts on Dienville, but 
was always driven back. 

The centre of the French line of battle having been 
broken through, and the left wing beaten, Napoleon 
lost all hope of maintaining his position, and was 
forced to retire. Desiring to effect his retreat in good 
order, and to conceal for some time his real intention, 
he despatched a part of the reserve to reinforce the 
left wing ; and, with the remainder, and a numerous 
artillery, made a fresh attack on La Rothiere. This 
was late in the evening and in the dark, the field of 
battle being only now and then partially illuminated by 
the feeble rays of the moon. Being fully sensible of 
the great importance of the possession of La Rothiere, 


BATTLE OF BBIENNE. 69 

Napoleon, Bliicher, and Sacken personally directed 
the fight m the streets of that village. The French, 
у theii lenewed attack, succeeded in carrying it, but 
they were soon driven out by the grenadier regiments 
of Little Russia and Astrachan, which had hurried up 
to the combat. This reinforcement was the con¬ 
sequence of an order, given in time by the Emperor 
to Count Barclay, to move up the whole grenadier 
corps, with the second and third division of cuirassiers, 
in order to reinforce the troops engaged, and, at the 
same time, to bring the guards forward to replace the 
grenadiers. The French then began to retire to 
Brienne, and Guilay, at midnight, after a sixth assault, 
carried Dienville, which the enemy did not yield till 
La Rothiere was finally in our possession. All the 
villages occupied by the French in the beginning of the 
battle, had fallen into our hands. The darkness of a 
gloomy January night did not allow us to take ad¬ 
vantage of the victory, and our advanced posts were 
thrown out as it were gropingly, but so near to the 
enemy as not to lose sight of them. Some of the 
officers of the French General’s staff lost their way in 
the dark, and, wandering within our lines, were made 
prisoners. As in the preceding year at Leipsic, so now 
before Brienne, the aide-de-camps of the different 
generals, commanders of corps, brought reports of 
their successes straight to the Emperor. Some of them 
received orders of knighthood on the height of Trannes, 
where his Majesty remained the whole day. When 
Count Nostitz, Bliicher’s aide-de-camp, brought the 
news of La Rothiere being definitively in our possession, 
the emperor embraced him with these words : “ Tell 
the Field Marshal that he has crowned all his former 


70 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


victories.” The day was indeed a day of triumph for 
the Prussian leader, who commanded and fought under 
the eyes of the Allied Monarchs, and of the two com- 
manders-in-chief. Prince Schwarzenberg and Count 
Barclay were spectators of the combat, which Bliicher 
ably directed and happily terminated ; but neither word 
nor look betrayed the slightest feeling of jealousy in 
either. On the contrary, they strove to co-operate 
with him by their counsels, and by their readiness to send 
him reinforcements from the troops under their com¬ 
mand. It is a pleasant duty to cite this noble feature 
of their respective characters; and while doing homage 
to the unsullied purity of the feelings of those dis¬ 
tinguished commanders, to hold them up to admiration, 
as the worthy organs of the will of two virtuous 
monarchs. 

The Emperor was entirely satisfied with the good 
order and valour of the Russian troops. Above all, 
he praised the conduct of Sacken, adding, “ How 
blameable do I feel myself in regard to him ! It was all 

owing to- who calumniated him. Yet, I 

hope Sacken will now be satisfied with me.” His 
Majesty decorated him with the order of Saint Andrew: 
he had made him, a few days before, a present of fifty 
thousand rubles for the passage of the Rhine. In his 
report of this battle, Sacken says: “ On this superb 
and memorable day, Napoleon has ceased to be the 
enemy of the human race ; and Alexander may say:— 
“ 1 give peace to the world.” We quote his own 
words for the purpose of satisfying those who, many 
years hence, may perhaps be desirous to know in what 
terms he, who was the chief author of our success, 



RESULT OF THE BATTLE OF BRIENNE. (1 

expressed himself on the subject of the battle of 
Brienne. 

The trophies of this first victory gained over France 
were a thousand prisoners, and seventy-three pieces of 
cannon taken at the point of the bayonet. Two cir¬ 
cumstances materially contributed to the capture of 
these guns. In the first place, the boggy nature of the 
ground and the wretched roads, which made it very 
difficult to transport cannon from one place to another; 
and in the second, the superiority of the cavalry of the 
allies, which the French horse, sent by Napoleon to 
cover his batteries, was unable to withstand. The 
loss of the Allies, in killed and wounded, amounted 
to four thousand men. The commanders-in-chief, 
Prince Schwarzenberg, Count Barclay, and Bliicher 
were rewarded with gold swords, set with jewels and 
adorned with laurels. 

The Hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg, Count 
Wrede, Vassiltchikof, and Prince Stcherbatof received 
the order of St. George of the second class. 

“What will they say at Paris after this victory?” 
observed the Emperor, as he was leaving the field of 
battle on his way to pass the night at Bar-sur-Aube. 

In fact, the effect produced on the minds of the 
French by the result of this battle was indescribable. 
Although Napoleon, in his bulletins, called it an affair 
of the rear-guard, which he had brought on merely for 
the sake of facilitating the concentration of his troops 
at Troyes, yet the truth very soon became known. 
His most zealous supporters were obliged to acknow¬ 
ledge that he had been defeated. They could not, as 
formerly, pretend to ascribe the triumph of the Allies 
to a concurrence of unexpected circumstances; as, for 


72 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


example, the rising of the waters of the Danube, on 
the day of Aspern, the rigour of the elements in 
Russia, or the treason of the Saxons at Leipsic. 
Another and not less important advantage of the 
victory at Brienne was, that it gave security to the in¬ 
vasion of France by the Allies, confirmed their in¬ 
fluence in the country in their rear, on the left bank of 
the Rhine, and proved, what in the outset many had 
doubted, that even in the heart of France it was possi¬ 
ble to triumph over Napoleon. 


73 


CHAPTER V. 


The French retreat—Troyes abandoned by Napoleon—Intrigues against 
Napoleon—The Emperor Alexanders stay at Troyes—Congress of 
Chatillon — Discussions of the Conditions of Peace—The Emperor 
Alexander's Opinion opposed by the leading Ministers of the Allied 
Sovereigns. 


During the whole of the night which followed the 
battle of Brienne, the French kept retiring in two 
directions beyond the rivers Aube and Voire, on the 
banks of which they left strong rear-guards to cover 
their retreat. At day-break, on the 21st January, the 
Emperor returned from Bar-sur-Aube to the field of 
battle, and going up to Sacken’s corps, which was 
standing in column, thanked the officers and men, and 
then said to the General, “ You have not only van¬ 
quished foreign enemies, but domestic too.” 

The order was now given for the troops to pursue 
the enemy. The Emperor and the King of Prussia 
kept up with the advancing columns. The Hereditary 
Prince of Wirtemberg and General W^d6 were not 
long in driving the enemy out of the town and castle 
of Brienne. On their retreat, the French obstinately 
defended the passage of the Aube and the Voire, in 
order to gain time, and a warm affair was the conse¬ 
quence. Bullets were falling thick about the Emperor, 
while Count Wrede was vainly imploring His Majesty 
to retire from so dangerous a spot. Seeing that his 


74 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


entreaties produced no effect, Wr6de at last told him, 
that there was nothing left for himself to do, but to 
quit the field of battle. Just then, however, there 
came on a remarkably heavy snow shower, which at 
once put an end both to the fire of musketry and the 
cannonade, and hid the enemy’s movements. The 
combat was now closed, and the sovereigns proceeded 
to the castle of Brienne, which, having been for some 
days the theatre of hostilities, presented a picture of 
destruction inseparable from war. A fine library and 
a collection of precious manuscripts and objects of 
natural history, had not been spared by the French or 
the allied troops. The books and manuscripts had 
been thrown out of the windows and used to kindle the 
fires of the bivouacs. On the arrival of the allied 
monarchs, order was instantly restored'. 

Their majesties wishing to consult with the com- 
manders-in-chief, invited to the castle Prince Schwar- 
zenberg, Count Barclay, and Bliicher, and spent some 
time in planning the ulterior movements of the armies. 
It was at last resolved, that the army of Silesia and the 
Grand Army should separate, and that Bliicher should 
set out for Chalons, form a junction with the corps of 
Langeron, York, ai>d Kleist, and then, following the 
Marne, advance on Paris through Meaux. The 
Grand Army was likewise to march on the capital 
through Troyes and along both banks of the Seine. 
The motive which led to this separation, was an ap¬ 
prehension of the troops suffering from the want of 
supplies if they remained together; indeed, some 
difficulty in procuring provisions, and especially forage, 
had already began to be felt. The council being over, 
the Emperor returned to Bar-sur-Aube, where he 


PURSUIT OF THE FRENCH. 75 

remained three days, and from whence, on the 24th 
January, he removed to Bar-sur-Seine. 

The pursuit of the enemy was not kept up with suf¬ 
ficient spirit. In the affairs of the rear-guards at Les- 
mont and Rosnay, a whole day was lost, and Napoleon 
had time to gain a march on the Allies. In the 
advanced guard were the Austrians, Wirtembergers, 
and Bavarians, who so tardily pursued their beaten 
enemy, that they at last fairly lost sight of him. Two 
days actually elapsed before Prince Schwarzenberg 
knew whether the French had taken the road to 
Troyes, Arcis, or Chalons. In order to obtain certain 
information of the enemy’s motions, the Emperor sent 
forward the light cavalry division of the guards, under 
the General Aide-de-Camp Count Ojaroffsky, who 
reported that the corps of Mortier alone was drawing 
off towards Arcis, and that Napoleon, with his whole 
forces, had marched through Piney in the direction of 
Troyes. This report did not convince the Field 
Marshal, who waited for its confirmation; and thus it 
was not before he had received a second report from 
Count Ojaroffsky, of the same tenor with the first, that 
he gave orders to continue the advance. 

Prince Schwarzenberg thought that Napoleon would 
defend himself in Troyes; drawing this conclusion 
from the circumstance of the French having sur¬ 
rounded the town with new palisades. Napoleon, 
however, did not halt at Troyes, but retired on Nogent, 
of which a report was immediately sent in by the par- 
tizan Seslavin. Again the Prince refused to give 
credit to this important intelligence, and ordered, for 
the 25th, a general reconnoissance of the enemy who 
were posted around Troyes; thus another day was lost. 


76 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

Even this order was recalled, and instead of the pro¬ 
posed movements, the Field Marshal resolved, on the 
26th January, with all his forces to attack the French 
by both banks of the Seine, at Troyes, where there 
was now but a slender rear-guard unmolested by any 
body. For this purpose, instructions, of three pages 
in length, were drawn up in the Austrian camp, order¬ 
ing, among other things, that the troops should provide 
themselves with ladders and fascines. 

The Emperor, who was at Bar-sur-Seine, had in¬ 
tended leaving that town in order to be present at the 
proposed attack. At eleven o’clock in the morning 
His Majesty’s charger was at the door, when he re¬ 
ceived intelligence confirming Seslavin’s report that 
Napoleon had evacuated the town the evening before, 
that is, on the 25th. The service of the advanced 
posts had been so carelessly performed by the 
Germans, that the first news Prince Schwarzenberg 
received, of Napoleon’s retreat from Troyes, was not 
from his advanced troops, but from deserters. 

The retreat down the Seine, by the Paris road, left 
the French without hope of further success. “ The 
soldiers,” says an eye-witness, “ marched in silent sad¬ 
ness, such as it would be difficult to describe; they 
kept asking each other: where are we to halt?” This 
melancholy state of discouragement will easily be 
understood by the Russians, who shared in the cam¬ 
paign of 1812. Did we not hold the same language 
as we kept retreating from Vilno to Smolensk and be¬ 
yond it ? Did we not put the same questions to each 
other, in our eager desire to know on what spot of our 
fatherland we should be ordered to halt and offer re¬ 
sistance to the enemy ? 


NAFOLEON ABANDONS TROYES. 


77 


When the Emperor received the report of the 
enemy having abandoned the head town of Cham¬ 
pagne, his first thought was the preservation of the 
inhabitants from the horrors of war. With this view 
the chief of his staff, Prince Volkonsky, on the 26th 
January, wrote the following letter to Prince Schwar- 
zenberg: — “I am commanded by His Majesty to 
thank your Highness for your report of the taking of 
Troyes. The Emperor does not wish that you should 
establish your head-quarters in that town to-day. It is 
His Majesty’s wish that you immediately send an ex¬ 
press to the Hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg, with 
orders to spare the town and to observe the strictest 
discipline. This seems to His Majesty to be the 
more necessary, that according to the averments of the 
inhabitants of this place, the French plundered Troyes 
themselves. In such circumstances the good conduct 
of our troops may greatly influence the general opinion, 
by showing the superiority of our discipline.” 

Such were the apparent first-fruits of the victory of 
Brienne, among the most important of which must be 
reckoned the certainty of gaining possession of Paris. 
Preparatory dispositions to this end were made by the 
Emperor the moment he learned that Napoleon had 
abandoned Troyes without risking a battle. “ I must 
tell you beforehand,” writes the Emperor, on the 26th 
January, to Field Marshal Bliicher, “ that His Majesty 
the King, and I, have in concert resolved, that in the 
event of the armies reaching Paris, the troops shall be 
quartered in the environs, and not in the capital. It is 
my wish that they should not enter it till the King and 
I come up, and that the corps which shall reach Paris 
with us may be the first to enter it. It will be highly 


78 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


agreeable to me that this our mutual intention should 
be fully understood, and you will oblige me by causing 
it to be respected by the troops under your orders. 
Political considerations of the highest importance con¬ 
cur to render this measure indispensable.” 

On the following day the Emperor left Bar-sur- 
Seine and reached Troyes, where several of the prin¬ 
cipal inhabitants immediately presented themselves in 
the name of their fellow-citizens, praying for the resto¬ 
ration of the Bourbons. The Emperor received them 
graciously, but gave them for answer, that their pro¬ 
ceeding appeared to him to be premature ; that they 
were exposing their lives to danger ; and that before 
thinking of the Bourbons it would be necessary to 
vanquish Napoleon. The deputies, notwithstanding, 
mounted the white cockade, and one of them the order 
of St. Louis, the wearing of which, as well as the white 
cockade, had been prohibited in France, under the 
pain of death. Even during His Majesty’s stay at 
Langres, the old nobility of the surrounding country 
had requested permission to arm a legion of volunteers 
on behalf of their former kings. The Emperor told 
them he would not throw obstacles in their way, but 
on condition that'the legion should be formed in dis¬ 
tricts not occupied by the allied troops. From these 
circumstances it is plain, that the monarchs abstained 
from exercising immediate influence on the subject of 
a change of government in France. 

More remarkable than these deputations, however, 
was the arrival at Troyes of a person who presented 
himself to Count Nesselrode, under the assumed name 
of Count St. Vincent, and handed to him a scrap of 
paper, on which the following words were written with 





I иЛ byJZJCXefcvre, JYewmart St. 
























J 


INTRIGUES AGAINST NAPOLEON. 


79 


sympathetic ink : “ La personne que je vous envoie est 
de toute confiance. Ecoutez-le et reconnoissez moi. 
II est terns d’etre plus clair. Vous marchez sur des 
bequilles. Servez-vous de vos jambes, et voulez ce 
que vous pouvez.” The pretended St. Vincent was 
the Marquis of Vitrolles, one of the most devoted ad¬ 
herents of the ancient dynasty, who had been sent from 
Paris by certain persons high in office, who were plan¬ 
ning the overthrow of Napoleon. Even so early as the 
end of the preceding year, while the head-quarters of 
the allied sovereigns were still at Frankfort on the 
Maine, the same dignitaries had sent thither a confi¬ 
dential agent inviting them not to delay crossing the 
Rhine. This agent conducted himself with such cir¬ 
cumspection, that one of His Majesty’s General Aid- 
de-camps, without once suspecting who he was, offered 
him a place in his calash, in which he travelled with 
him till they reached Nogent on the Seine. History 
will doubtless one day lay open the rise and progress of 
those secret machinations against Napoleon; here we 
only allude to their existence, as a proof, that in 
France, an opinion had been gradually forming against 
him, who had sought after every kind of glory, but that 
of making himself the father of his people, and of em¬ 
ploying for their good the extraordinary talents with 
which nature had endowed him. With regard to the 
information sent to our head-quarters by his enemies, 
prudence neither allowed us to despise it nor to treat it 
with particular attention. We may add, that Napo¬ 
leon was still so strong, that these secret manoeuvres, 
which were by no means encouraged by the Allies, 
could not shake his power ; the issue depended on the 
force of arms. 


80 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


The Allies did not all share the Emperor Alexan¬ 
der’s confident anticipation of speedily getting posses¬ 
sion of Paris. This result, indeed, still depended on 
the chances of war, as to which each of them drew con¬ 
clusions according to his conviction, and to his confi¬ 
dence in his own force. Their chief dread was, that 
on the taking of Paris, they should meet with innume¬ 
rable difficulties in the administration of a populous 
capital. They could find no answer to the question: 
“ What shall we do with it when we have it ?” The 
very idea of the subjugation of Paris wrought upon 
their imagination, by its vastness and novelty, to such 
a degree, that the now probable invasion of that capital, 
instead of exciting them to make a grand effort to 
crown their former victories, to reap the fruits of their 
sacrifices, to wipe out the stains of many defeats, and 
to realize that hope in which Europe was waiting the 
decision of her fate,—was considered by them as an 
additional motive to a speedy conclusion of peace. 
Alexander thought otherwise than did his allies, and 
regarded the taking of Paris as a circumstance which 
could not be accompanied with any difficulties of a 
peculiar kind. In this respect the results justified his 
sagacity ; but in January few were of his opinion. 

With the view of removing the pretended difficulties 
of this important enterprize, to turn it to the greatest 
possible advantage to the cause of the Allies, and to 
put an end to all misunderstandings, different plans 
were drawn up, showing the line of conduct to be pur¬ 
sued by the Allies on becoming masters of Paris. 
These plans, however, remained in the shape of mere 
projects, and were not signed by any body ; for this 
reason, that at this very time Austria, England and 


OVERTURES FOR A PEACE. 


81 


Prussia, notwithstanding the opinion of the Emperor 
Alexander, persisted more firmly than ever, in their 
intention of bringing the war to a close. Yet we may 
be allowed to state in a few words, that the substance 
of the projects in question was, that having entered 
Paris, nothing should be taken by right of conquest— 
that there should be no interference with the domestic 
affairs of France—and, if peace should not have been 
by that time concluded with Napoleon, to sign it on 
the conditions proposed at Chatillon; provided always 
that the general voice of the capital should not pro¬ 
claim the Bourbons, and thus deprive Napoleon of the 
possibility of giving the necessary pledges for the 
peace. Finally, the allied sovereigns, as a mark of 
their particular respect for the Emperor Alexander, 
reserved to His Majesty the nomination of the Gover¬ 
nor-General. 

While the ideas of the Emperor Alexander were ex¬ 
clusively bent on the taking of Paris, and while in 
imagination, he was planting the standard of Russia on 
the towers of the enemy’s capital, those of the Allies, 
who were most inclined to peace, considering it as 
indispensable, availed themselves of an unexpected 
occurrence as a pretext for persisting in their opinions. 
Hardly was the despatch to Field Marshal Blucher sent 
off on the 26 th January, containing a preliminary order 
as to the advance of the Silesian army on Paris, when 
Prince Schwarzenberg received a communication from 
Caulaincourt, then at Chatillon, in which he announced 
his readiness to sign the peace, if an armistice pro¬ 
posed by him should be accepted. The circumstances 
which gave rise to this letter are so intimately con- 


82 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


nected with what was passing at Chatillon, that before 
quoting it, we must turn to the Congress. 

The ministers of the Allied powers quitted Langres 
for Chatillon, at the same time that the Emperor left it 
for Chaumont, on learning that Napoleon in person 
was beginning the campaign, and there they found 
Caulaincourt who had been some days waiting their 
arrival. At the first sitting on the 24th January, Cau¬ 
laincourt displayed the greatest impatience to hurry 
over the usual preliminary business of the verification 
of the respective powers, and would even have it dis¬ 
pensed with, desiring to know on the instant, in what 
the demands of the Allies actually consisted. This 
curiosity, very intelligible in his situation, was not gra¬ 
tified on the first day. At the second sitting on the 
26th January, Count Stadion, in the name of the 
plenipotentiaries, announced to him the will of the 
allied monarchs, to wit: to leave France the boun¬ 
daries which she had in 1792. The French plenipo¬ 
tentiary answered : “ mon role est celui des sacrifices,” 
adding, that he was ready to agree to this condition, 
provided he received immediate communication, without 
exception, of all the cessions required of France, and 
were informed for> whom the countries to be ceded 
was destined. Count Razumofsky objected, that the 
balance of power, after many shocks, having been at 
length completely destroyed, its reconstruction now 
formed the object of the active exertions of the courts, 
and that Caulaincourt’s question had therefore no re¬ 
lation whatever to what was now demanded of France. 
Each of the other ministers in his turn affirmed it to 
be the unalterable resolution of the powers to enter 
upon no discussion whatever, till the French govern- 


CONGRESS OF CHATILLON. 


83 


ment should have previously agreed to accept of the 
frontiers of 1792. After a short silence, Caulaincourt 
whose countenance betrayed his chagrin, requested 
some hours for reflection. The sitting was suspended 
till the evening; but when the ministers met again at 
the appointed time, the French plenipotentiary without 
touching the subject which had been under discussion 
in the morning, spoke of the proposals which had been 
made to Count St. Aignan at Frankfort on the Maine 
at the close of the preceding year, the basis of which 
was, that the boundaries of France should be the 
Rhine, the Alps, and the Pyrenees. He then enlarged 
on the necessity of his knowing the totality of the de¬ 
mands and intentions of the Allied Courts, with refer¬ 
ence to the cessions now demanded. He was answered 
that the proposals made to Baron St. Aignan were 
foreign to the discussions, no allusion to them being 
found in the instructions of the plenipotentiaries; 
and Count Razumofsky added, that if such extraneous 
matter were introduced, he should have to request 
fresh orders from his Court. On this occasion he 
acted agreeably to the commands he had received from 
His Majesty, which were to gain as much time as pos¬ 
sible. These orders had been repeated in stronger 
terms after the battle of Brienne. This policy, how¬ 
ever, did not harmonize with the instructions of the 
other plenipotentiaries, who had been ordered by their 
Courts to conclude a peace without delay. 

The first sittings of the Congress were spent in 
these fruitless discussions, in the course of which it was 
evident that Caulaincourt was contending with himself. 
On the one hand, the conditions of the Allies appeared 
to him to be oppressive, and on the other, he seemed 
g 2 


84 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


ready to agree to any thing, if the Allies would only 
make peace with Napoleon. As a private individual 
he ardently desired the conclusion of the war, pro¬ 
vided Napoleon, to whom he owed his elevation, 
honours, and estates, remained on the throne; but in 
his capacity of minister, he hesitated to confirm with 
his signature, conditions which were humiliating to his 
country. His situation was now the more critical that 
for some time he had not heard from his Court; the 
natural inference from this silence being, that after the 
battle of Brienne, Napoleon’s affairs were in a worse 
condition than they afterwards proved to have been. 
In order to gain time, and if possible to discover the 
precise nature of the ultimate demands of the Allies, 
he resolved to request an armistice addressing his ap¬ 
plication to Prince Metternich, with whom, during the 
whole time the Congress lasted, he carried on a confi¬ 
dential correspondence in writing. The contents of 
his letter were as follows:—“ It is my intention to ask 
the plenipotentiaries if they will agree to grant an 
armistice, provided France shall comply with their 
demands on the subject of the frontiers. I am ready 
to make this sacrifice, if the armistice can be signed 
immediately. On,this condition I will even deliver up 

several fortresses in the countries to be ceded, but I 
am ignorant whether the ministers have full powers to 
give a satisfactory answer to my question and to con¬ 
clude the armistice. If they have not, there is nobody 
who can do more than your Highness to procure it for 
them. The reasons which induce me to request you 
to lend your aid, seem to me to be of importance 
not to France alone. I entreat your Highness to lay 
this letter before Her Majesty’s father: let him 


CONGRESS OF CHATILLON. 


85 


see the sacrifices we are ready to make, and then 
decide.” 

The drift of the French diplomacy was evident in 
this letter. Indeed it was neither the first time nor 
the last that attempts were made, by insinuations of 
various kinds, to detach the Court of Vienna from the 
Alliance. To the honour of the Emperor Francis, he 
turned a deaf ear to them all. The purport of the 
letter in question having been communicated to the 
other plenipotentiaries, England, Austria, and Prussia 
consented to the armistice. They only stipulated that 
Napoleon should previously place some fortresses in 
their hands as a pledge that he would no longer op¬ 
pose the conclusion of a peace on the conditions of 
France accepting the frontiers of 1792. These 
Powers knowing the Emperor Alexander’s reluctance 
to treat with Napoleon, resolved, by a minute entered 
in the protocol, to request His Majesty to issue his 
commands to Count Razumofsky to sign. At the 
same time, each of their leading ministers, Lord 
Castlereagh and Princes Metternich and Hardenberg, 
stated in writing his opinion on the question of 
continuing or closing the war. Considering the state 
of affairs, both in a political and military point of view, 
they unanimously came to this conclusion, that the 
object of the treaty of alliance, signed in the preceding 
year, had been gained, and that the time had arrived, 
when, for the welfare of Europe, it was expedient to 
come to terms with Napoleon. They stated that their 
courts desired, and were ready to conclude on the 
terms agreed to, and insisted on the necessity of doing 
so. Here for the first time, since the treaty of alliance 
with Prussia was signed at Kalish in 1813, occurred a 


8G RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

difference of opinion between her Cabinet and the 
Emperor Alexander. 

We must leave it to time and foreign historians to 
lay open in detail the views of those three statesmen 
and the considerations which led to the orders they had 
received to insist on peace. Nor shall we attempt to 
calculate the probable consequences of a peace by 
which Napoleon would have continued to rule over 
France. To the Russian belongs only the pleasing 
and consoling duty of showing, what were at this time 
the ideas of the Emperor Alexander. Happy is he, 
who in narrating the great events on which hang the 
destiny of nations, frequently meets with occasions 
that fill him with deep and reverential feelings of ad¬ 
miration towards his sovereign ! 

The opinion of the Emperor Alexander communi¬ 
cated to the Allied Sovereigns at Troyes, on the third 
of February was as follows : 

“ I have attentively considered the answers of the 
Austrian, English, and Prussian ministers to the 
questions submitted to them. 

“ As the first of these questions has for its aim to 
define the object for which we are waging war, I think 
it necessary on this head to enter into historical and 
frank explanations. 

“ It is known to the allied courts in what circum¬ 
stances I had recourse to arm’s in order to oppose the 
attempted conquest of my empire, and how the enemy, 
after suffering incalculable losses, was driven out of 
it. This event immediately ensured the safety of 
Russia; but counting for little the tranquillity which 
would have followed a temporary peace with France, I 
resolved to undertake the deliverance of Europe. 


CONGRESS OF CHATILLON. 


87 


Neither the dangers inseparable from a war, the theatre 
of which lay far beyond the frontiers, nor the difficulties 
which hindered the other Powers from uniting with 
Russia, nor selfish and timid counsels could shake my 
resolution. 

“ The accession of Prussia to the alliance with 
Russia, began to justify my hopes. From the instant 
that Power resolved to unite her troops with the Rus¬ 
sians, it behoved that the immediate object of the war 
be kept in just proportion with our success and our 
means ; and on this principle, the treaty of affiance 
was necessarily based. The accession of Austria was 
necessary to perfect an affiance indispensable to the 
welfare of Europe; but the deliberate march of the 
Court of Vienna gave the enemy time to take the field 
with powerful forces in the centre of Germany, then 
under his yoke. In the mean time, we had to choose 
between two measures,—to fight or to retreat;—in the 
latter case, abandoning Saxony and Silesia, at the 
least, to the enemy without a struggle, and, without 
having made any effort whatever, deceiving the hopes 
of Germany. The King of Prussia and I resolved to 
follow the dictates of honour. Fortune was not al¬ 
together favourable to us, but the unshaken firmness 
displayed by us in the day of failure, engendered new 
combinations, which allowed Austria to take measures 
for uniting with Russia and Prussia. 

“ In the beginning of this coalition, offers of peace 
were made to France. My opinion on this subject is 
known to the Allies. I maintained that such a peace 
would not lead to an end worthy of the sacrifices we 
had made, and the relative advantage of our position. 
I was told that the chances of war might turn against 


88 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


our demands, which we could only make good by force 
of arms; but I insisted that the dangers of a struggle 
which offered but a probability of success, were pre¬ 
ferable to a peace, which would leave Europe in chains. 
The result was our fortunate alliance, to which, under 
Providence, we are indebted for all the successes we 
have obtained. Yet, when Austria resolved to unite 
with Russia and Prussia, victory was still doubtful: the 
object of the war was, therefore, necessarily limited by 
the condition of our affairs at the time, and on that 
basis our mutual obligations were framed. 

“ Victory having brought us to Frankfort, the Allies 
offered to France conditions of peace, which they then 
considered as proportionate to the successes they had 
obtained ; at that period these conditions might have 
been called the object of the war. 

“ And here it is to me an agreeable subject of re¬ 
collection, how strongly I opposed hurrying into ne¬ 
gotiations. I more than once rejected proposals of 
this nature, not because I did not wish for peace, but 
because I had calculated that time must offer us more 
favourable occasions, when we had proved to the enemy 
our superiority over him. The Allies have now good 
reason to be satisfied with what I did; for to it we are 
indebted for all the incalculable advantages arising 
from the difference between the conditions proposed 
at Frankfort and at Chatillon, that is, the restora¬ 
tion by France of territories, without which Holland, 
Germany, and Italy would be lost on the first offensive 
movement. 

“ The detail of these events clearly shows that the 
object of the war was never accurately defined, and 
that it has all along changed with circumstances. 


CONGRESS OF CHATILLON. 


89 


“ With reference to the point which we have now 
reached, I am of opinion, that the position which the 
contending armies are in at present, does not allow us 
to contemplate any other consequences, but those 
which may result from a continuance of the war. Ar¬ 
rangements of any other kind would require so much 
time to carry into complete execution, that the enemy 
might, in the course of it, refuse to keep his pro¬ 
mises ; especially if he should gain time enough to 
assemble forces, and strengthen the general opinion, 
now vacillating, of his personal destiny. The de¬ 
struction of his political power does not constitute the 
grand aim of the efforts which it remains for us to 
make; but it may become so, if the fortune of 
war, the example of Paris, and the evident inclina¬ 
tions of the inhabitants of the provinces of France, 
shall give the Allies the possibility of openly pro¬ 
claiming it. 

“ I do not share the opinion of the Allies on the 
greater or less degree of importance attached by them 
to the dethronement of Napoleon, if that measure can 
be justified on grounds of wisdom. On the contrary, 
I should consider that event as the completion of the 
deliverance of Europe, as the brightest example of 
justice and morality it is possible to display to the 
universe ; and, finally, as the happiest event for France, 
whose internal condition can never be without influence 
on the tranquillity of her neighbours. 

“ Nobody is more convinced than I am of the in¬ 
constancy of fortune in war; yet I do not reckon a 
partial failure, or even the loss of a battle, as a mis¬ 
fortune which could in one day deprive us of the fruits 
of our victories. I have long reflected on our situation, 


90 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


and I am now convinced, that the skill of our generals, 
the valour of our troops,—our superiority in cavalry, 
—the reinforcements which are following us, and 
the force of public opinion animating the nations, 
would never allow us to fall so low, as some may 
think. 

“ In this respect the only danger to be dreaded is, 
that the fear expressed in the opinions which have been 
submitted to me, may be communicated to the troops ; 
but they have given us so many proofs of undaunted 
resolution, that such impressions cannot, I hope, have 
any influence over them. 

“ As to the difficulties which might result from the 
taking of Paris, I believe them to be over-rated: the 
capital will not neglect to take means for its own pre¬ 
servation and security. To render this easy, we have 
only to decide conscientiously on the measures ne¬ 
cessary for its tranquillity. What reason have we 
to presume that we shall find Paris in a state of 
anarchy ? 

“ I am by no means against continuing the negocia- 
tions at Chatillon, or giving Caulaincourt an answer to 
his last query, and even the explanations he desires on 
the subject of the ^future destiny of Europe, provided 
France shall agree to return to her old frontiers. 
With respect to the answer in question, the Allies 
may concert it in conformity with the arrangement 
made in relation to this subject, at Langres. 

“ With reference to the armistice requested by the 
letter to Prince Metternich, I conceive this proceeding 
of the French plenipotentiary to be contrary to the 
existing usages of negociations. It is not difficult to 
perceive the enemy’s drift in this infraction of received 


CONGRESS OF CHATILLON. 


91 


rules. To agree to negociate on so important a 
subject would be to connive at bis designs. As to the 
substance of his demand, I am of opinion, that in the 
present circumstances, an armistice would be of ad¬ 
vantage only to the enemy, and that we should not 
stop short at the sight of snares which will become 
more dangerous, when time shall have given Napoleon 
new means of gaining strength and of breaking his 
promises. The most effectual of these means consists 
in assuring the French that their present monarch is to 
continue to rule them with full sway. Their convic¬ 
tion of this will inevitably rouse them to assemble 
round him with a promptitude excited by fear and a 
wish to exculpate themselves from the charge of that 
indifference and aversion which they have hitherto 
shown to take up arms in a general rising. 

“ I am still as much convinced as ever, that all pro¬ 
bability is in favour of a successful issue, if the Allies 
unanimously keep to the views and obligations by 
which they have hitherto been guided with reference to 
their grand object, the destruction of the enemy's 
armies . With a good understanding among them¬ 
selves their success will be complete, and checks will 
be easily borne. I do not think that the time is yet 
arrived for us to stop short, and I trust, that, as in 
former conjunctures, new events will show us when that 
time shall have arrived.” 

The lucid and convincing arguments of this opinion, 
which may well be regarded as an imperishable monu¬ 
ment of the deep and sound political combinations of 
the Emperor Alexander, could not shake the resolu¬ 
tion of the Allies to conclude the peace. They only 
agreed with the Emperor in the uselessness of an 


92 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


armistice, which, as we have already seen, they had 
been willing to grant on receiving Caulaincourt’s letter. 
The leading ministers of the foreign courts personally 
waited on His Majesty, and the Emperor had long 
discussions with them which occasionally assumed so 
warm a complexion as to produce a change in the 
habitual expression of his features. Seeing nothing 
to encourage the hope of a change in the disposition 
of the courts to bring the war to a close, and being 
convinced that further opposition would draw after it 
the rupture of the alliance, the Emperor insisted 
no farther; and on that very day, the 3d February, 
issued his commands to Count Razumofsky, to sign 
the peace on the conditions which had been offered 
to the Cabinet of the Tuileries at the opening of the 
Congress of Chatillon. 

The extraordinary resistance of the Allies to the 
irrefragable arguments of the Emperor Alexander 
may perhaps be in some degree accounted for by 
the circumstance, that on the very day on which 
His Majesty’s opinion was communicated to them, 
the news reached Troyes of Napoleon’s march against 
the Silesian army and of Olsoofief’s defeat at Champ- 
aubert. It will be shown in the sequel, that this 
circumstance, though certainly unfavourable to the 
arms of the Allies, was far from being a sufficient 
motive for hurrying on the negociations to a close. 
This the Emperor fully comprehended, and doubted 
as little as ever of the successful issue of the war. 
The following note, written in French with his 
own hand, in this painful crisis, will show the 
nature of his ideas better than any words of mine. 
On the 3d February, when signifying his commands 


CONGRESS OF CHATILLON. 


93 


to Count Nesselrode, he added the following words 
which we here translate from the original:—“ The 
whole of our Grand Army is still in the enemy’s 
rear, and, if we act with skill and resolution, affairs 
may still take the happiest turn.” 


94 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


CHAPTER VI. 


Advances of the Grand Army.—Movements of Blucher.—The Army of 
Silesia.—Movements of Napoleon.—Affair at Champaubert.—Olsoofief 
taken prisoner, and defeat of the Russians.—Dialogue between Napoleon 
and Poltorasky. — Conduct of Blucher.—Affair at Montmirail and 
Vauchamp.—Taking of Soissons. 


The discussions on the terms of peace had continued 
for a whole week, in the course of which the affairs of 
the campaign had assumed an entirely different aspect. 
The wasting of several days after the battle of Brienne, 
and the tardy occupation of Troyes, were doubtless a 
loss to us; but it might have been recovered, if, after 
entering Troyes, the pursuit of Napoleon had been 
pushed with vigour. So far from this, however, Prince 
Schwarzenberg, for reasons which we shall afterwards 
notice, first put his army into cantonments, contenting 
himself with sending forward the corps of Witgenstein 
and Wrdde, and then moved the Grand Army at the 
slowest pace down the Seine to Mery, Nogent, Sens, 
and Montdreau. The only offensive operations were 
the sending of the Ataman Platoff, and Major-General 
Seslavin to reconnoitre in the direction of Orleans and 
Fontainbleau. At the same time Lieutenant-General 
Diebitch, with the light cavalry division of the Guards, 
and a brigade of grenadiers, and the Emperor’s aide- 
de-camp, Prince Lubomirsky, were sent to Sdzanne, in 
order to keep up the communications with Field 


ADVANCES OF THE GRAND ARMY. 95 

Marshal Bliicher, who was on his march from Brienne 
to Chalons. 

After evacuating Troyes, Napoleon retreated un¬ 
molested to Nogent, fortified that place, and stood 
with his whole army on the right bank of the Seine, 
waiting to see what the Allies would undertake, and 
then to regulate his movements by the nature of their 
operations. His left wing had been turned by Bliicher, 
and his right by the Grand Army, which was now 
not more than a hundred versts distant from Paris. 
Napoleon directed every thought to the saving of 
the capital, and his chief hope was founded on the 
arrival of the veteran troops from Spain, which, for 
greater despatch, were being conveyed to Nogent in 
carts. These troops, who had gained experience of 
war and could bear its hardships, were to be considered 
as his last bulwark; for he could not depend on the 
new levies, which, besides their incapacity to support 
the hardships of a campaign during a severe winter, 
often abandoned their colours and even plundered 
their countrymen, as our readers may see from an 
order issued to the French army on the 27th January, 
in which, among other things, it is said, “ The Em¬ 
peror has to express his displeasure to the army at the 
excesses to which it abandons itself. Such excesses 
are always hurtful, but they become criminal when 
committed in our native country. From this day 
forward, the chiefs of corps and the generals shall be 
held exclusively responsible for them. The inhabit¬ 
ants are flying on every side, and the troops, instead of 
being their country’s defenders, are becoming its 
scourge.” The number of Napoleon’s troops being 
too small to justify him in risking a general engage- 


96 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


ment with either of the allied armies, there remained 
but the expedient of trying to beat them in detail. 
The operations of Bliicher now afforded him a favour¬ 
able opportunity for doing so. 

While the Grand Army was almost insensibly moving 
down the Seine from Troyes, Bliicher, with the corps 
of Sacken and Olsoofief, marched from the field of 
battle at Brienne through St. Ouen on the road to 
Chalons, with the intention of uniting, about Vertus, 
with the remaining corps of the army of Silesia; to 
wit, that of General York and those of Kleist and 
Kaptsevitch which were advancing from the Rhine : 
on effecting this junction, he was to march on Paris. 
Of these three generals, York was the nearest to the 
theatre of war. He had been lying in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Chalons, close to which was the grand park of 
the French army, covered by the corps of Macdonald, 
who was on his way from Dusseldorf to join Napoleon. 
After a rather hot affair, York had made himself master 
of Chalons on the 24th January, and Macdonald retired 
to Epernay. Bliicher having got intelligence of this, 
resolved to cut off the Marshal’s retreat near La Ferte- 
sous-Jouarre, at the meeting of the two great roads 
leading from Chalons to Paris; or, if this were impos¬ 
sible, to force him to yield up a part of the park which 
he was escorting to Paris, consisting of upwards of a 
hundred guns dragged by peasants’ horses. We would 
direct the particular attention of our readers to this 
enterprize of Bliicher’s, as it will explain the causes of 
the dissemination of the Silesian army, and the im¬ 
portant results which that measure drew after it. 

In execution of his plan, Bliicher ordered General 
York to follow Macdonald by the road to Epernay and 


THE ARMY OF SILESIA. 


97 


Chateau Thierry, and despatched Sacken’s corps 
through Bergeres and Montmirail. The latter was 
followed at the distance of one day’s march, by 01- 
soofief, who was directed to halt at Champaubert till 
he should receive further orders. The Field Marshal 
himself halted at Vertus to wait for the coming up of 
the corps of Kleist and Kapts6vitch which were hourly 
expected at Chalons. With these he purposed 
marching to Champaubert, where he was to be joined 
by Olsoofief, and with all these troops forming a reserve 
to the corps of Sacken and York, to push on to Paris. 
At the same time he hastily fortified Vitry, to secure, 
in all events, his retreat, never thinking that danger 
was threatening him from the left. On that side he 
was the more tranquil, that the Grand Army was there ; 
and as had been agreed on at Brienne, must be 
vigorously pressing the vanquished enemy. Besides, 
the very nature of the locality seemed to secure the 
left wing of the corps under his command. It was 
covered by the marshy banks of the Petit-Morin, which 
rises not far from Champaubert, and flowing through 
Montmirail, falls into the Marne at La Ferte-sous- 
Jouarre. 

The army of Silesia, spread over a wide extent of 
country, was lying on the 28th of January at the 
following places. The commander-in-chief, almost 
without troops, was at Vertus; Kleist and Kapts6vitch 
were between Chalons and Vertus ; Olsoofief was at 
Champaubert; York near Chateau-Thierry ; and be¬ 
tween Montmirail and La Ferte-sous-Jouarre, Sacken, 
whose advanced-guard, under Vassiltchikof, was already 
at Ferte-sous-Jouarre, and beyond it, on the road to 
Meaux, whither Macdonald had retired after destroying 

H 


98 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN PRANCE. 


the bridges of the Marne. The advance of the 
Silesian army to Meaux, the approach of the Grand 
Army to the Seine, and the appearance of Count 
Platoff and Seslavin at Melun, Sens and Nemours, 
the arrival of Wintzengerode at Laon, from whence 
Ch<5rnisheff was already leading his advanced-guard to 
Soissons, excited the greatest alarm for the safety 
of the capital among the chief men in office at Paris. 
Preparations were begun for removing the public 
money, the secret papers of the ministers, and the 
most valuable of the pictures and statues. Couriers 
and expresses, hourly sent to Napoleon, informed him 
of these apprehensions; and Macdonald reported that 
he had not been able to keep the enemy in check, and 
that, forced to retreat, he had reached Meaux, distant 
only three short marches from Paris. At the same 
time, Napoleon received from Caulaincourt a report 
of the terms offered him at Chatillon, which stipulated 
that France should retire within the frontiers of 
1792. 

After reading the despatches from Paris and Cha¬ 
tillon, Napoleon kept a long silence, but at last gave 
the following answer to those around him, who were 
endeavouring to persuade him to make peace : “ What 
should I be in the eyes of the French, were I to put 
my signature to their humiliation ? What should I 
say to the republicans in the senate, when they de¬ 
manded our former boundary of the Rhine? I reject 
such a peace.” He then threw himself on a camp 
bed, but sleep fled his eyes. The minister of foreign 
affairs, who spent the greater part of the night with 
him, succeeded, by unceasing entreaties, in softening 
him, and received permission to write to Caulaincourt 


MOVEMENTS OF NAPOLEON. 


99 


in such terms as might give him a chance of drawing 
out the negociations; for it was Napoleon’s wish, that 
the terms of the Allies should be laid before the Privy 
Council at Paris. In the meanwhile, as they were 
preparing the despatches for Chatillon, Napoleon, who 
had his eyes constantly fixed on the map of Champagne 
lying before him, received intelligence of the loose 
movements of the corps of the Silesian armies. At 
this moment the minister presented the answer, which 
his master had allowed to be sent to Caulaincourt. 
“ That is not the affair now in hand,” said Napoleon 
to him ; “ with my eye I am beating Bliicher, who is 
marching by the Montmirail road. I will march 
against him, beat him to-morrow, and after to-morrow, 
if I succeed in my attempt, affairs will wear quite a 
new face, and then we shall see what is to be done.” 
He then ordered word to be sent to Marshal Macdonald 
and to his brother Joseph, that he was on the way to 
their assistance. 

Leaving the corps of Oudinot and Victor at Provins 
and Nangiz, with orders to defend the passage of the 
Seine to the last extremity, Napoleon, with the guard 
and the corps of Marmont, Ney and Mortier, marched 
through Villenauxe on Sezanne, resolved to fall upon 
the first troops of the Silesian army he should meet 
with. On reaching Sezanne, he at first hesitated 
whether he should march by the left on Montmirail, or 
straight through Champaubert to the great Chalons 
road ; but having received certain information from his 
spies of the positions of the Prussian army, he pro¬ 
ceeded towards Champaubert by roads which, at that 
season of the year, were considered impassable. As 
for the artillery, the inhabitants furnished horses which 
h 2 


100 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


drew the guns with great difficulty through the woods 
and marshes, then covered with a thin crust of ice 
which continually gave way. Marshal Marmont, who 
headed the march, returned back with his corps, de¬ 
claring that it was impossible to advance by such roads ; 
but Napoleon angrily stopped him, and ordered the 
advance to go on, cost what it might. 

The French army having passed the night at the 
village of St. Priest, set out on the morning of the 
29th January, and the advanced-guard soon came in 
view of General Olsoofief, who, in execution of the 
Field Marshal’s orders, was advancing in full confidence 
of security to Champaubert. He could the less an¬ 
ticipate the storm that was soon to burst over his head, 
that by these instructions he was to take up his quarters 
for some days in and about Champaubert, in order 
to give his troops time to recover from the fatigues 
and losses at Brienne, which had reduced the corps so 
low, that it now numbered only 3,690 infantry, with 
24 pieces of artillery, and sixteen men acting as 
mounted expresses. A part of this detachment, which 
still bore the name of corps, had already reached 
Champaubert; the soldiers had begun to boil their 
porridge, and the quarter-masters had set off to the 
adjoining villages. At this moment the commander of 
the corps received intelligence of the arrival of the 
French in considerable force. Desiring to know their 
number, he ordered General Udom, with a brigade 
of light infantry, to occupy the village of Baye, 
which lies in advance of Champaubert, on the road 
to S6zanne. The light infantry drove the French 
skirmishers out of it; but the enemy’s columns quickly 
showed themselves, and attacked in such force, that 


AFFAIR AT CHAMPAUBERT. 


101 


Udom sent for a reinforcement. He reported to the 
commander that the enemy’s numbers kept constantly 
increasing, and that they had brought up 12 guns. 
Another brigade and six pieces of cannon were im¬ 
mediately sent to support Udom. 

About nine o’clock the engagement became very 
warm. Olsoofief now sent orders for the quarter-mas¬ 
ters to return; the kettles were emptied, and the 
superfluous baggage sent off to Etoges. The remain¬ 
ing troops received orders to prepare for action, and 
were marched to Вауё. At one o’clock he called a 
council of the generals, heavy columns being now seen, 
which, before reaching Baye, divided to right and left 
with the view of completely surrounding Champaubert. 
The generals proposed an immediate retreat to 
Etoges, through which the road passes to Vertus, where 
the head-quarters of Bliicher then were ; but Olsoofief 
answered that he could not consent, having been 
ordered to maintain himself in the position of Cham¬ 
paubert. He added, perhaps with the intention of en¬ 
couraging those under him, that Kaptsevitch and Kleist 
were at Sezanne, from whence they would probably 
arrive in time to act on the rear of the French. In the 
meanwhile he sent off several expresses to let Bliicher 
know of his situation, and of the prisoners having 
asserted that Napoleon was present in the field; but 
the Field Marshal always answered that his apprehen¬ 
sions were groundless, that Napoleon could not be 
present, and that the detachment acting against our 
troops, could not amount to more than 2,000 men 
commanded by some partizan. He farther confirmed 
his previous order to keep possession of Champaubert 
as being the connecting link between his army at 


102 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Vertus and Sacken’s corps at Montmirail. By two 
o’clock Udom was driven out of Baye, and the whole 
corps having gone into action, fought as skirmishers, 
forming a line three versts long. This concealed our 
weakness from the enemy, whose columns, during the 
whole morning, kept pouring out of the defiles of St. 
Gond. Our mounted scouts every minute brought 
word, that the French were approaching Champaubert 
on both sides, along the great road from Etoges to 
Montmirail. Olsoofief seeing that his communication 
with Bliicher and Sacken was threatened to be cut off, 
gave orders for the corps to form in mass, to retire to 
Champaubert, and from thence to Etoges. Hardly 
had he sent off his twelve guns, when it became known 
that the enemy, having gone round the wood, had oc¬ 
cupied the great road. Olsoofief now marched in 
person to attack them, and in the meantime ordered 
Major General Poltoratsky, with a brigade and nine 
guns, to defend himself in Champaubert. 

Poltoratsky succeeded in reaching the village before 
the enemy, and having placed the guns in the cross 
ways, was rather successful in beating off the attacks of 
the enemy’s cavalry ; but his ammunition beginning to 
fail, he was obliged to have recourse to the bayonet. 
In a short time, however, he was forced out of the 
village, when he began to retreat across the plain, in 
the hope of reaching a wood at the distance of two 
versts, and of defending himself there. His disorder 
could not be concealed from the enemy, who twice sent 
to desire him to surrender, but on receiving a refusal, 
redoubled the attack and brought up the horse artil¬ 
lery to play upon our troops which had formed in 
square. As he drew near the wood where he had 


OLSOOFIEF TAKEN PRISONER. 


103 


hoped to find shelter, Poltoratsky perceived that it was 
already in the hands of the French, who received him 
with a volley of musketry. The ranks of the square 
were quickly thinned by a heavy fire of grape, and by 
the attacks of the cavalry, whose impetuosity was in¬ 
creased by the conviction of certain success. The 
Russians kept falling, one after another, watering with 
blood every step of the disputed ground, but the mo¬ 
ment of their inevitable destruction could not be 
delayed. The men being at length fairly exhausted in 
a combat in which the enemy were as ten to one, Pol¬ 
toratsky was completely overpowered, and with his nine 
guns, taken prisoner. 

Olsoofief who had intended to retire on Etoges with 
a great part of the corps, finding the road occupied by 
the enemy, charged with the bayonet, but was unable 
to clear it of the French. Finding it impossible to 
force his way to Etoges, he struck off, to the left, in 
order to gain the village of Lacore, by the cross roads. 
The darkness of the evening, and the deep mud 
through which the guns had to be dragged by the 
soldiers, retarded the movement, so that the enemy had 
time to surround the detachment, to press upon it with 
cavalry, and waste it by a heavy fire from their guns, 
which kept playing upon it from all sides. Our 
regiments, who had been in action the whole day, being 
now much exhausted, fired off their last cartridges and 
opened their way with the bayonet: at this moment 
the commander of the corps was made prisoner. Gene¬ 
ral Cornelof, well known for his intrepidity, especially 
since his daring exploit at Shoomla in the year 1810, 
now took the command as the senior officer. “ In this 
extremity,” says he in his report,” I agreed with Major 


104 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


General Udom to defend myself to the last drop of my 
blood, and not to surrender. We got together the 
remains of the corps now reduced to two thousand men, 
and fifteen guns, and breaking through the enemy who 
surrounded us, made our way through the forest to the 
village of Portabin^on, having preserved our colours 
and our honour along with them.” 

Our loss on this day amounted to nearly two thou¬ 
sand killed and wounded, and nine pieces of cannon ; 
but in the bulletins in which Napoleon related the 
affair of Champaubert, it is said that the fruits of the 
victory were forty guns taken, six thousand prisoners, 
and the remainder drowned in ponds and lakes. With 
few alterations, this falsehood has found its way into 
every history of the war, and has been received with the 
less suspicion, that Olsoofief’s division bearing the name 
of a corps, naturally led people to believe that it was far 
more numerous than we have shown it to have been. 
Not knowing that it consisted of less than four thou¬ 
sand men, they imagined that Napoleon had gained a 
brilliant victory. 

Such is the true account of the consequences of 
the erroneous dispositions of Field Marshal Bliicher, 
which led to the destruction of a Russian detachment, 
whose commander, guided by the rules of the service, 
blindly obeyed the orders he had received, by clinging 
for a whole day, with a handful of men, to the post 
assigned him. His duty was to march to Champaubert, 
where he was ordered to remain, and, if necessary, to 
lay down his life. Olsoofief could certainly never have 
imagined that Bliicher had offered him, as it were, 
a prey to the French army ; and he does not deserve 
reproach for not knowing that he was engaging with 


DEFEAT AT CHAMPAUBERT. 


105 


Napoleon’s army, for Bliicher himself was ignorant of 
the * motions of the French. “ Why,” exclaim the 
Prussians, “ did he not send out patroles to get in¬ 
formation of the enemy?” For this plain reason, that 
the Field Marshal had sent off all the cavalry with 
General Sacken, and detached to Champaubert only 
sixteen convoy troopers, whom it was impossible, 
owing to their insignificant number, to send to any 
considerable distance, or in different directions. This 
very circumstance proves, that Bliicher, who had, in 
his capacity of commander-in-chief, every means of 
procuring correct information, was so convinced of 01- 
soofief’s safety, that he did not furnish him with cavalry, 
thinking that it would be superfluous in the detachment. 
Far more reasonable would it be to ask, why the Field 
Marshal, on receiving Olsoofief’s report, that Napoleon 
was in person attacking him, ordered the detachment 
to hold out to the last extremity ? That report, to 
which Bliicher did not give credit, was the more de¬ 
serving of his consideration, that Count Pahlen had 
that very morning sent him word, that Napoleon, with 
the main body of his troops, was on his way from the 
Seine to the Marne. 

By combining and comparing these circumstances, 
we see how groundlessly the Prussian writers have 
blamed the conduct of our General. In their 
desire to justify Bliicher, they lay the blame of 
the disaster on Olsoofief, who having received po¬ 
sitive orders to keep possession of Champaubert, 
could not decline fighting. Bliicher’s glory will 
retain its lustre for ages, even if we allow that he 
made a few mistakes in the course of his brilliant 
military career. His laurels will not fade ; and we do 


106 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


homage to them with the greater pleasure that they 
were mostly bought with Russian blood. * 

Napoleon desiring to see Olsoofief, invited him to 
sup with him ; but as the General had difficulty in 
expressing himself in the French language, Napoleon 
sent for Poltoratsky. The following dialogue took 
place between them. 

“ How many were you in the field to-day ?” 

“ 3690 men, and 24 guns.” 

“ Nonsense! that cannot be; you had, at least, 
18,000 men.” 

“ A Russian officer does not speak nonsense. I 
have told the truth; besides, there are other persons 
from whom you can learn the same thing; then I hope 
you will be convinced that Russians do not lie.” 

Napoleon scowled, and after a short silence said, 
“ If what you assert be true, it may be said to your 
honour, that Russians alone can fight so desperately. 
I would have pledged my head that you were, at least, 
18,000.” 

“ For all that I am a prisoner.” 

“ What does that signify ? Your Emperor has fifty 
of my generals prisoners, and as good as you. But, 
granting that I have destroyed you without great 
honour, as my troops fought with yours a whole day, 
still the consequences of this affair are important to 
me ; and I will now tell you, that, as I have routed you 
to-day, I will annihilate Sacken to-morrow; on Thurs¬ 
day, the whole of Witgenstein’s advanced guard ; on 
Friday, I will give Bliicher a blow from which he will 
not recover, and then I hope to dictate a peace to your 
Alexander on the Vistula.” 

“ That will be rather difficult.” 


// 


POLTORATSKY’S INTERVIEW WITH NAPOLEON. Ю7 

Napoleon then entered critically on the subject of 
the late campaigns, and after running over that of 
1812, ended by saying, “ Your old fox, Kutusof, de¬ 
ceived me by his march on our flank.” He carried his 
playful humour so far, that Poltoratsky now and then 
disputed with him, and among other things said, that 
the French had burned Moscow. This expression 
seemed unpleasant to Napoleon, who answered: 
“ What! the French ? That act of barbarity was the 
work of you Russians.” 

“ When you took possession of Moscow, and when all 
order was at end, it may be said that both the French 
and the Russians burned it: but I must frankly tell 
you that Russians, so far from regretting the catas¬ 
trophe, reflect with pride on the burning of their 
ancient capital, and can soon build a new one.” 

Napoleon continued to grow warmer, and said, “ It 
was a barbarous deed, and a stain on the nation ; I 
took Berlin, Madrid, and Vienna, and no such thing 
happened.” 

“ The Russians don’t repent of it, and are delighted 
with the results.” 

Napoleon stamped with his foot, and ordered the 
prisoner to leave the room. 

During the dialogue Marshals Berthier, Ney, Mar- 
mont, and the minister of foreign affairs, Maret, stood 
by in the most respectful posture. Poltoratsky was 
making his way, accompanied by a colonel of gens- 
d’armes, through the bivouac of the guard which en¬ 
circled the house occupied by Napoleon, when he 
heard somebody call out, “ Where is the Russian 
prisoner?” It was the French General-aide-de-camp 
Flahaut. He very politely requested him to return to 


108 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Napoleon, who, loading his prisoner with compliments, 
thus began his interrogatory : 

“ What is the strength of the Russian guards and 
army ? Where is the Emperor and Generals ?” naming 
many of them. 

To all his questions he received one and the same 
answer : “ I don’t know.” 

“ I had promised myself the pleasure,” continued 
Napoleon, “ of conversing with you on several matters, 
but your answer, ‘ I don’t know,’ hinders me. Why 
does your Emperor every where employ his own ex¬ 
cellent troops, and not the Germans, whom I could 
annihilate in half an hour, while I have been fighting 
with you for a whole day ?” 

“ You ask me about the position of our army: that 
is a secret. To us the will of the Emperor is sacred, 
send us where he may. A gallant soldier says every 
thing that comes uppermost. Our oath to our Em¬ 
peror and country forbids that.” 

Here Napoleon, displaying an intercepted order 
from Bliicher to Olsoofief, desiring him on no account 
to retire from Champaubert, exclaimed, “ There is 
your drunkard Bliicher! Did he know I was here ? 
Where I am, there are a hundred thousand more.” 
Poltoratsky still continuing his answers in the negative 
on the state of the army, was for the second time sent 
out of the room. Napoleon ordered him to be con¬ 
veyed to Paris, and to be strictly watched. 

By his success at Champaubert, Napoleon had cut 
the Silesian army in two. Sacken and York, who 
were at La Ferte-sous-Jouarre and Chateau Thierry, 
were completely separated from Bliicher, who was at 
Vertus still waiting for Kaptsevitch and Kleist, to 


CONDUCT OF BLUCHER. 


109 


whom he kept sending order upon order to hasten up. 
Napoleon could now at pleasure, and with assurance 
of success, fall on either half of the army ; that is, turn 
to the right against Bliicher, or to the left against 
Sacken. He made choice of the latter, as promising 
greater advantages; for Sacken, in the event of defeat, 
could only effect his retreat by Chateau Thierry and 
by crossing the Marne. It resulted necessarily from 
the successful execution of this manoeuvre that Napo¬ 
leon would be able to throw him out of the circle of 
the operations of the allied armies, and at the same 
time deliver Paris from danger. On the contrary, 
Bliicher, if defeated, might retreat unmolested to 
Chalons, or even unite with the Grand Army. 

Napoleon left the corps of Marshal Marmont before 
Etoges, to keep Bliicher employed, and before day¬ 
break, on the 30th January, set off for Montmirail to 
meet Sacken, who had received an order from Bliicher 
to return back from La-Ferte-sous-Jouarre through 
Montmirail, and to rejoin him at Vertus. He had sent 
him this order the day before, that is, on the morning 
of the day on which Olsoofief was attacked, and when 
he found that the enemy appeared to be approaching 
from S£zanne, he likewise ordered General York to 
form a junction with Sacken, and to throw a bridge 
over the Marne at Chateau Thierry for the army to 
cross by, in case it should not be able to offer effectual 
resistance to the enemy at Montmirail. When he 
gave this order, he was still of opinion that the troops 
which had left S6zanne were few in number; so far 
was he from thinking that Napoleon had arrived from 
the banks of the Seine on the line of his communica¬ 
tions. If he had known it, and had given full credit 


no 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


to the reports of Count Pahlen and Olsoofief, he would 
certainly have changed his plans and have ordered 
Sacken and York instantly to cross the Marne, instead 
of marching on Montmirail where they must meet with 
Napoleon, and be sacrificed to his numerical superiority. 
Sacken too was convinced that the French who had 
appeared at Sezanne were insignificant in point of 
number, and he set out for Montmirail in the hope of 
beating them. He did not credit the report of General 
Karpoff of the Cossacks who had been left at Sezanne 
by General Vassiltchikof, and who wrote him that all 
the roads were covered with the enemy’s troops, and 
that Napoleon was with them. 

On the very day Napoleon moved from Champau- 
bert to Montmirail, Sacken was on his way to it from 
La Ferte-sous-Jouarre. At Vieux-Maisons he re¬ 
ceived intelligence ' that Montmirail was occupied by 
the French, and that Napoleon had arrived there in the 
morning; but he treated the report as groundless, and 
continued his march. At nine o’clock in the morning 
of the 30th January the advanced guard came upon 
the enemy, and while the skirmishing was going on, 
the General formed his troops in the following order of 
battle. The centre was on the great road from La 
Ferte-sous-Jouarre to Montmirail; the right wing oc¬ 
cupied the village of Marche near the river Petit- 
Morin, and the left took up its ground in the direction 
of the village of Fontenelle. Here Sacken expected 
to be joined by the Prussians, on whose co-operation 
he firmly relied, in consequence of York having been 
ordered to unite with him by that very disposition, in 
execution of which Sacken was now on his way to 
Montmirail. The affair had hardly begun, when the 


AFFAIR AT MONTMIRAIL. 


Ill 


Prussian general, Katsler, brought word that the ad¬ 
vanced guard was at hand. 

By degrees, as the French arrived from Champau- 
bert at Montmirail, they marched out of the town, and 
the combat thickened, especially on Sacken’s right 
wing in the village defended by the infantry of Prince 
Stcherbatof, whose place, on account of illness, had 
been taken by General Talizin. In a short time this 
village thrice changed masters. Napoleon purposely 
persisted in this attack, in order to attract the attention 
of General Sacken to the right, and then with his col¬ 
lected forces to fall upon his left wing, and by thus 
cutting off his junction with the Prussians, to deprive 
him of the means of effecting a retreat. General 
York now arrived, and reported that his infantry could 
not arrive for some time, and that he had been obliged 
to leave all his artillery at Chateau-Thierry, owing to 
the wretched state of the road from Vifort to Montmi¬ 
rail. It followed that, as at Brienne and Champaubert, 
the Russians alone were to bear the brunt of Na¬ 
poleon’s attack. 

It was now one o’clock, and the battle had become 
general along the whole line; yet Napoleon had gained 
no ground. At three o’clock a Prussian brigade came 
in sight near Fontenelle, but without guns, for which 
reason two companies of Russian artillery were sent to 
join it. But considering that further resistance to an 
enemy superior in force would be vain, and being at 
last convinced by the assurance of a prisoner, a captain 
of the French guard, that Napoleon in person com¬ 
manded the troops, General Sacken resolved to retire. 
As soon as the French perceived that he was eva¬ 
cuating Marche, they advanced against his centre, with 


112 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


the intention of breaking his line of battle. Blood now 
flowed in torrents, and the French cavalry attacked 
with the greatest impetuosity; but having been 
charged and broken by Vassiltchikof, they did not 
venture to renew the attempt. 

Our troops retired in order to Vifort, wading through 
mud which was so deep and thick that many of the 
men were obliged to cast off their shoes. Talizin, who 
from the right wing had to march a distance of three 
versts, succeeded in rejoining the corps, although the 
French did all they could to stop him. They only 
succeeded in cutting off the foot regiment of Sophia, 
which, after all, forced its way with the bayonet. The 
Prussians too began to retreat from Fontenelle, and 
as the Russian artillery which was with them, had been 
more in motion than in action, Sacken ordered General 
Niketin to bring it ihto play. As soon as the Russian 
brigade, which was in front of the artillery, had passed 
it, a very heavy fire was opened from these guns; but, 
notwithstanding its terrible effects, the shock of the 
French was so heavy, that they several times forced 
the battery, and killed and wounded many of our 
officers and men with the bayonet. 

Night put an end to the combat. Vassiltchikof was 
ordered to cover the retreat, and give the artillery 
every possible facility for retiring through the woods 
and morasses, which were almost impassable. The 
cavalry fastened long lines to the field-pieces, and the 
hussars and dragoons, fifty men to each gun, dragged 
them forward, and after a night of severe labour, 
reached Vifort at day-break. Fires had been kindled 
at the distance of three or four hundred yards from 
each other, which lighted the road, and enabled the 


SACKEN CROSSES THE MARNE. 113 

regiments to keep close to their colours. To aid the 
passage of the artillery, some torches, which were found 
in the possession of different companies, were lighted ; 
but after all General Vassiltchikof’s exertions to save 
the artillery, it was found necessary to abandon eight 
guns, which had received more damage than the rest. 
During the night the corps continued its march to 
Chateau Thierry, and the rear-guard defended itself 
wherever the ground was favourable. 

On the following morning, Napoleon left Montmirail 
for Chateau Thierry, where the Prussian General, 
Horn, with 24 squadrons, was ordered to keep the 
enemy in check, till the corps should have passed the 
Marne. He formed these troops in two lines of twelve 
squadrons each. Vassiltchikof and Lanskoy, who 
were standing on an eminence at a little distance, 
advised him to change his order of battle, from which 
it was vain to hope for success; but the General did 
not listen to them, and left his troops as they were. 
All at once, the whole first line advanced to the attack. 
The French waited till it came to the proper distance, 
and routed it. These squadrons threw the second line 
into disorder, and galloped off pell-mell along with them 
in every direction over the plain. General Heidenrich’s 
brigade of infantry, consisting of the regiments of 
Tamboff and Kostroma, happening to be at hand, 
immediately formed square, and kept the enemv in 
check by a fire of musketry, but they were ultimately 
broken : the General was made prisoner, and three 
pieces of cannon were taken. In the meanwhile, 
Sacken and York kept crossing the river, and by five 
o’clock in the afternoon, they were on the right bank 
of the Marne, and had cut away the bridge. Sacken’s 

i 


114 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


loss on both days amounted to 5,000 men, being more 
than a third of his corps, which consisted of only 14,000 
men (including 4,000 Prussians) under arms, in the 
beginning of the affair at Montmirail: the Prussians 
lost 850 men killed and wounded. 

This battle, too, was represented by Napoleon as a 
complete victory gained over the whole Russian army, 
although his success went no farther than forcing 
Sacken to retreat. There can be no doubt, that if the 
latter had been less resolute, and less zealous in ex¬ 
ecuting the orders he had received, he might have 
marched straight to Chateau Thierry without hindrance, 
and there have crossed the Marne. He would thus 
have avoided a bloody meeting with him who had so 
long been terrible to his opponents. By such a move¬ 
ment he would certainly have insured his own safety, 
but he would not have executed the orders of Bliicher. 
We shall now put a question, the decision of which 
we shall leave to Sacken’s accusers : “ What would 
become of that highest military virtue, obedience, if 
subordinate commanders were allowed to modify, at 
pleasure, the dispositions of their superiors, and to 
retreat, merely because they were likely to meet with 
resistance on a march ?” We shall conclude these re¬ 
flections by quoting the words of a foreign writer, who 
says, “ Sacken may have committed an error of judg¬ 
ment on this occasion; but still it was the error of a 
hero too confident of his own strength. We had few 
Generals equal to him : only such as he might hope to 
vanquish Napoleon.”* 

Napoleon had resolved to cross the Marne; but 
having received a report from Marshal Marmont, who 

* Varnhagen von Ense’s Life of Bliicher. 


BLUCHER ADVANCES TO MONTMIRAIL. 


115 


was watching Bliicher at Etoges, that the Allies were 
beginning to press upon him, he ordered Mortier to 
continue the pursuit of Sacken and York, and then 
hurried away with Marshal Ney and the guard to the 
relief of Marmont. 

We left Bliicher at Vertus, waiting for news of 
Sacken and York, and the coming up of the corps of 
Kaptsevitch and Kleist, who at length reached Etoges 
on the very day of the combat at Montmirail. Judging 
from the nature of his character, we may conclude that 
the days he passed here in a state of complete inaction, 
were among the most tiresome of his life. Reports 
of Napoleon’s successes, exaggerated by the inha¬ 
bitants, were hourly reaching him ; he knew of Olsoo- 
fief’s disaster,—and the distant roar of the artillery at 
Montmirail told him of Sacken’s danger, while he 
could not advance one step to his aid, till the arrival 
of the corps, which were hourly expected, as well as 
of the cavalry with which he was totally unprovided. 
The number of troops at his immediate disposal was 
so small, that he dared not even fall upon Marmont, 
who was standing before him at Etoges, and whose 
corps, by the report of spies, was said to amount to 
30,000 men. At length, Kaptsevitch and Kleist 
having arrived, and the remains of Olsoofief’s corps, 
and two regiments of Prussian cuirassiers, having 
joined, Bliicher, with 15,000 men under arms, set 
forward to make a diversion in favour of Sacken and 
York, of whose fate he had received no certain in¬ 
telligence. 

On the 1st February, Bliicher pushed on to Etoges, 
driving the French out of it, and pursuing them through 
Champaubert to Fromeniere ; and, on the following 

i 2 


116 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


day, continued his advance along the road to Mont- 
mirail. Marmont, who had kept fighting and re¬ 
treating, had already evacuated Vauchamps ; but at 
the very moment the Allies were taking possession of 
that village, Napoleon appeared with his guard and a 
corps of cavalry, with which he had made a forced 
march from Chateau Thierry on learning that Marmont 
was attacked. They who never witnessed a combat, 
which Napoleon personally commanded and directed, 
can have but a faint idea of the magical effect produced 
by his presence on the spirit of a fight. The moment 
he appeared, the cavalry attacked with greater boldness 
and rapidity,—the skirmishers fell back, and gave 
place to deep columns of infantry,—the batteries were 
reinforced, and the fire became heavier,—Aide-de¬ 
camps galloped about in all directions,—and the air 
resounded with the cries of “ En avant! Vive l’Em- 
pereur !” 

Marmont now halted and attacked the Prussian ad¬ 
vanced guard of General Ziethen, who, having left 
the main body too far behind him, was forced to retreat 
in disorder to the position which Bliicher had taken up. 
A few minutes had already elapsed, when a numerous 
body of cavalry charged the left wing, and having 
broken the Prussian cuirassiers, dashed on to attack 
the infantry ;—but the Field Marshal having had time 
enough to form into squares, the charge failed. The 
French cavalry turned both his flanks, but were received 
with volleys from the squares, and the Prussian cui¬ 
rassiers having again formed behind the infantry, re¬ 
turned to the attack. 

Seeing the enemy’s superiority in numbers, which 
kept every minute increasing, and the resolution dis- 


RETREAT OF BLUCHER. 117 

played in the attack, the Field Marshal had no doubt 
of Napoleon’s arrival, of which he quickly received 
certain information from the prisoners. He had now 
nothing to think of but a retreat, and of the means 
of sustaining, with the least possible loss, the attacks 
which it was impossible to avoid. 

The retreat began in squares, the artillery being 
placed in the intervals. Kapts6vitch commanded the 
left wing, and Kleist the right. From the hamlet of 
Janvilliers to Fromenieres, where the wooded ground 
begins, each of the squares was several times attacked; 
but the infantry kept firing and retreating to Champ- 
aubert. The French cavalry would occasionally dash 
into the intervals of the squares, but they were always 
forced to retire with loss. Such was the coolness and 
steadiness of the squares in these critical circum¬ 
stances, that a foreign writer assures us, that Bliicher 
gazed with delight on the regularity and coolness of 
the movements which were executed by the Russians 
like the evolutions of a parade.* The attack was re¬ 
newed with fresh vigour, as soon as the troops came 
out on the meadow near Champaubert. The horse 
turned the squares on all sides, approaching to the dis¬ 
tance of a few paces. The way from Champaubert to 
Etoges had to be cleared by a continued fire of cannon, 
and musketry, and the bayonet. Beyond Etoges the 
cavalry could not pursue, and the infantry had now 
only half a verst to march in order to get out of 
danger. But hardly had the sun begun to set, when 
their hopes of escape vanished, for the French had 
made a circuit and occupied the road beyond the 
wood in great force, thus cutting off the retreat. 

* Vamhagen von Ense, Life of Bliicher, p. 362. 


118 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Total defeat now appeared to Bliicher to be inevitable. 
His mighty heart shuddered at the thought, that not 
only himself, but Prince Augustus and the whole corps 
were on the point of being made prisoners. He now 
sought death, and stood in front of the squares in the 
thickest of the fire. “ If you should be killed here,” 
said his favourite aide-de-camp, Nostiz, to him; “ do 
you really think that history will praise you for it ?” 
The Field Marshal now turned his horse’s head, and 
seeing the chief of his staff, Gneisenau, said to him, 
“ If I do not perish to-day, then am I destined to live 
long; I still hope to be able to repair all.” 

There was nothing left for him but to fight his way. 
This was plain to all, from the Commander-in-chief to 
the meanest private. The drums beat and the martial 
sound roused every heart to the combat. The artil¬ 
lery and infantry turned their fire on the French who 
were posted on the high-road. Being unable to with¬ 
stand it, the enemy abandoned the causeway, and con¬ 
fined themselves to attacks on the flanks and rear. 
Their dislodgement was rendered the easier by the 
fortunate circumstance that the troops of horse artillery, 
which formed part of the French detachment sent to 
occupy the Etoges road, had stuck fast in the mud, 
and could not reach the place appointed for them. In 
the confusion, however, two battalions of Prussians 
were thrown into disorder and made prisoners. The 
same fate threatened General Shenshin, whose memory 
as a man and an officer, will ever be dear to his fellow- 
soldiers. He was cut off with his brigade, consisting 
of the regiments of Archangel and Schlusselburg, and 
though wounded by a grape-shot, continued to com¬ 
mand till he had forced his way through the enemy, 


DEFEAT OF THE ARMY OF SILESIA. 


119 


when his strength failing him, he gave up the brigade 
to the senior officer. Lieutenant-Colonel Shush6rin 
and Captain Vogt of the Horse Artillery, in the Field 
Marshal’s presence, assembled and formed the can¬ 
noneers, and sabre in hand, charged right through the 
French cavalry, thus saving their guns. 

But the affair was not yet ended, and a fresh trial 
was to come. At Etoges, which had been early taken 
possession of by the French, our troops were again 
met by their fire at ten o’clock in the evening, when it 
was quite dark. Again the battle raged for a short 
time. Firing and manoeuvring were out of the ques¬ 
tion. In deep masses, and with loud hurrahs, the 
Allies rushed upon the enemy, trampled them under 
foot, and marching over their bodies, arrived in the 
night at Bergeres. The pursuit was now at an end, 
and order was restored, as far as it could be restored, 
in the regiments. After a few hours’ rest, the retreat 
was continued to Chalons, where the troops arrived on 
the 3d February. In this bloody affair fifteen guns 
were lost, and the killed, wounded, and prisoners 
amounted to 6,000: Among the last were Major- 
General Prince Urusof. Of the guns taken by the 
enemy, nine were Russian. 

Thus the army of Silesia, after advancing to Meaux, 
and being beaten at Champaubert, Montmirail, and on 
the road from Vauchamps to Etoges, was driven back 
partly beyond Chateau Thierry, and partly to Chalons. 
It is the general opinion that its misfortunes are to be 
ascribed to the separation of the armies after the battle 
of Brienne, and certainly it may be granted, that if 
the Allies, with their combined forces, had marched on 
Paris after that combat, it is probable that the move- 


120 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


ment would have been crowned with success; for the 
disorganized troops of Napoleon could not have made 
head against them. Yet Blucher’s defeat should not 
be exclusively laid to the account of the separation of 
the armies. This measure would certainly have been 
faulty if either of them had been inferior to the French 
army, it being impossible, in the face of a superior 
enemy, to divide an army with impunity. But as 
Bliicher and Prince Schwarzenberg were each sepa¬ 
rately stronger than Napoleon, they were warranted to 
choose separate lines of operation, which were even 
rendered necessary by the difficulty experienced in 
procuring supplies. Bliicher, from his self-confidence 
and natural daring, strengthened by his successes of 
the preceding year, and the victory at Brienne, de¬ 
spised his enemy, and thought he should meet with no 
obstacles to his advance on Paris. On the road to 
the capital of France he was led away by the hope of 
cutting off Marshal Macdonald at La Ferte-sous- 
Jouarre, or at least to capture the park which he was 
bringing up with him from Chalons. He sent against 
him two corps and all his cavalry, scattered his army 
over a great extent of country, without establishing due 
connexion between its parts, and did not cover it with 
flying and reconnoitring parties. It is impossible to 
justify his neglect in this respect, or his contempt of 
every measure of precaution, on the ground of his con¬ 
viction that Napoleon, with the Grand Army upon 
him, would not venture on a decisive movement against 
that of Silesia,—and that, come what might, Prince 
Schwarzenberg would be always close at the enemy’s 
heels. Napoleon, like a great general, availed himself 
of Blucher’s blunders, and executed the only scientific 


BLUCHER JOINED BY CHERNISHEFF. 


121 


manoeuvre in this campaign. It was a bright flash of 
his glory which had been dimmed by the campaigns of 
the two preceding years; but we shall soon see, that 
this momentary triumph did him ultimate injury, and 
that it may almost be regarded as one of the chief 
causes of his downfall. 

On reaching Chalons, Bliicher’s anxious endeavour 
was to re-assemble his beaten army, and to lose no 
time in effecting a junction with Sacken and York, 
who having as we have seen, crossed the Marne at 
Chateau Thierry, were advancing on Ouchy by the 
great Soissons road, intending to march from thence 
by the right to Chalons, through Fismes and Reims. 
Marshal Mortier had been sent after them, and the 
Commandant of Soissons was ordered to leave as many 
men in the fortress as were necessary for its defence, 
and then to march out and do all he could to harass 
the retreat of our corps. If this order could have been 
carried into execution, it would have added still more 
to the difficulty of Sacken and York’s movements, as 
they would thereby have found themselves between two 
fires, in a country covered with wood and intersected 
by narrow paths; for between Ouchy and Fismes there 
is no high-road. But at the very time the Command¬ 
ant was preparing to execute the will of Napoleon, 
General Chernisheff, with the advanced guard of 
Wintzengerode’s corps, suddenly appeared on the 
north side of Soissons, and took the town by assault. 
As this newly arrived corps which had hitherto been 
counted in the army of the North, now formed part of 
Bliicher’s army, and acted under his immediate com¬ 
mand, it will be necessary to give the history of its sepa¬ 
rate operations till its junction with the army of Silesia. 


122 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


We left General Wintzengerode after he had taken 
Namur. Differing with the Duke of Weimar and 
General Biilow on the question of joint operations, he 
had now only to comply with the will of the Emperor, 
by marching with all despatch to the Marne, in order 
to join the Grand and Silesian armies, which were then 
approaching Brienne. He therefore left Namur for 
Laon, from whence, according to circumstances, he 
could close up to Bliicher through Reims, or march¬ 
ing through Soissons, threaten Paris. But as the 
road to Laon is defended by the five fortresses of 
Maubeuge, Avesnes, Philippeville, Givet, and Charle- 
mont, it first behoved him to make himself master of 
one of them, in order to cover his line of communica¬ 
tions and secure it from the incursions of the French 
who occupied the fortresses between the Sambre and 
the Meuse. At first he thought of Philippeville, 
whose inhabitants, as his spies assured him, were all 
disposed to open their gates to his troops. For this 
reason Baron Wintzengerode ordered General Cher- 
nisheff to make an attempt on that fortress. In a dark 
night of January, Chernisheff approached Philippeville, 
planted a battery on the glacis, and having opened his 
fire, summoned the town to surrender, but received a 
refusal. Having no ladders for an escalade, which 
indeed it would have been impossible to accomplish 
owing to the immense quantity of snow which had 
recently fallen, he gave up the attack, and marched to 
Avesnes. 

This movement, executed between Beaumont and 
Binch, will occupy a place in military history ; for it 
was by the route now traced by General Chernisheff, 
that Field Marshals Wellington and Bliicher advanced 


MOVEMENTS OF CHERNISHEFF. 


123 


to Paris after the victory at Waterloo. The reasons 
which induced him to march upon Avesnes, in prefer¬ 
ence to any other of the fortresses, was the intelligence 
he had received that the fortifications of this town, the 
work of Vauban, had fallen into disrepair, and that the 
garrison was feeble. In all events, it was necessary to 
act with the greatest promptitude in order to prevent 
the enemy from reinforcing the garrison with troops 
from the neighbouring towns. To conceal the true 
point of attack, General Chernisheff sent a detachment 
to Mons, and then, with the advanced guard making a 
forced night-march, appeared before Avesnes early 
in the morning of the 28th January. He immediately 
sent to demand the surrender of the town, and in the 
meantime placed his artillery, within musket shot, on 
the heights which commanded it. His sudden appear¬ 
ance and his threats frightened the Commandant, who 
yielded without opposition. Twenty guns and the 
garrison consisting of 200 men, besides 400 English 
and Spanish prisoners, were taken. The occupation 
of Avesnes by Chernisheff was important in this 
respect, that it served as a point of support to the 
operations of the corps, and gave security to its com¬ 
munications, thus rendering it safe to advance within 
the ancient limits of France. On the following day, 
after an insignificant affair with the national guard, 
Chernisheff entered Laon. 

These operations made the deeper impression, that 
neither Napoleon nor the French expected that the 
Allies would enter France on this side, before effecting 
the conquest of the Netherlands, and especially of 
Antwerp. The conscription which had been going on 
by order of the government, was now put an end to ; 


124 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


the national guards retired to their homes, and the in¬ 
habitants, tranquillized by the orderly conduct of the 
Russian troops, and intimidated by their successes, 
gave up all thoughts of taking arms, to which they had 
been excited by frequent proclamations, sent to them 
from Paris. 

When he had taken possession of Laon, Wintzenge- 
rode began to meditate various plans of operations which 
should lead to the speediest junction of his troops with 
the armies in the field. His position was the more em¬ 
barrassing, as reports had. begun to circulate among the 
inhabitants, of defeats sustained by the army of Silesia, 
of which he had not received official information. 
General Chernisheff represented to the commander of 
the corps that there was no room for hesitating in the 
choice of measures, and that without losing a moment 
he should march on Soissons, and take that fortress by 
assault; that this would be the very best diversion in 
favour of Bliicher, as it would give an opportunity to 
attack Napoleon in flank, and by the taking of Soissons, 
inflict on him a heavy blow; that town, as the point 
where many great roads meet at the distance of only 
80 versts from Paris, being considered as the bulwark 
of France on the north ;—and further, that it had been 
fixed on to serve in place of a fortified camp for the 
training of the new levies. At first General Chernish- 
eff’s plan appeared too bold, the more so as it was 
known that Napoleon, on account of the great import¬ 
ance of Soissons, had entrusted its defence to General 
Rusca, one of his old companions in the Italian cam¬ 
paigns, who had 7,000 men under arms, and was there¬ 
fore not likely to yield the fortress without the most 
determined resistance. Having weighed the danger of 


CHERNISHEFF ADVANCES ON SOISSONS. 125 

the undertaking on the one side, and the advantages 
resulting from success on the other, Wintzengerode 
authorized General Chernisheff to march on Soissons, 
on the same conditions, however, which he had imposed 
on him at the passage of the Rhine, that is, to under¬ 
take the whole responsibility of a failure. He added, 
that to accomplish his enterprize, he could only allow 
him the troops of the advanced guard, reinforced by a 
company of artillery. 

On the 1st February the detachment, numbering 
4,200 men, set out for Soissons. When within three 
versts of the fortress, Colonel Benkendorf, who was in 
advance with the Cossacks, fell in with a thousand 
national guards, supported by regular infantry. The 
French immediately occupied the vineyards on the 
heights and began to skirmish. They might have 
defended this position for a considerable time, but 
being terrified by the charge and cries of the Cossacks, 
who now attacked them, the national guard and the 
regular infantry turned their backs, and instead of 
maintaining themselves in the village of Crouy, lying 
in the rear, sought safety under the walls of Soissons. 
Being overtaken in the plain by the Cossacks, they 
lost 28 officers, and 500 men made prisoners; and on 
the same evening their pursuers took up a position 
close to the town. General Chernisheff purposely 
kept back his regular troops, that his advance to the 
town on the following day might be the more unex¬ 
pected, and thus prevent the commandant from taking 
the necessary measures for its defence. Soissons lies 
on the left bank of the river Aisne. On the right 
bank there is a bridge-head fortification surrounded by 
a deep ditch, and protected by the batteries on the 


126 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


opposite side with which it is connected by a stone 
bridge. It follows that the town might be attacked in 
two ways ; that is, by throwing a bridge over the river, 
either above or below it, and acting on the left bank, 
or by storming the bridge-head, and from thence 
forcing a way into the town. General Chernisheff 
chose the latter, which, although it appeared the more 
difficult, was the speedier of the two. To throw a 
bridge over would have taken much time, which was 
now the more precious to us, that Napoleon, after 
defeating Bliicher, might be hourly expected to rein¬ 
force the garrison. 

The morning of the 2d February was employed in 
reconnoitring and in choosing the most favourable 
point of attack ; the city gate was fixed on, and ar¬ 
rangements made for breaking it open. According to 
the General’s dispositions, the infantry was to advance 
by the high road, and the Cossacks on each side were 
ordered to close by their flanks to the river Aisne in 
order that the whole detachment, on reaching Soissons, 
might form a half-circle about the town. Six guns 
advanced in front of each of the Cossack regiments ; 
the infantry were followed by the regular cavalry, and 
two companies of light infantry, under the command of 
an active officer of the staff were detached, with orders 
to take possession of a public-house lying about ninety 
yards from the walls, to the right of the great road. 
The Cossacks on the right flank were commanded by 
Colonel Suchtelen, and those on the left by Colonel 
Benkendorf. While these preparations were making 
for the assault, General Chernisheff sent to the com¬ 
mandant of Soissons to demand the surrender of the 
town, desiring his aide-de-camp Shepping to exaggerate 


SOISSONS TAKEN BY ASSAULT. 


127 


the number of the assailants, as is usually done in such 
cases; but the commandant gave a decided refusal, 
adding that he was not to be so caught, and that he 
was aware of the slender force of our detachment. 

The troops moved off their ground at nine o’clock 
in the morning, and began on all sides to approach the 
town. The enemy, as they came within range, at first 
fired with ball, and then with grape. Our artillery, 
acknowledged to be the best in Europe, having reached 
the place marked for it, opened its fire, and the two 
companies of light infantry soon made themselves 
masters of the public-house, and kept up a fire from 
the roof and windows. During these preliminary ope¬ 
rations, the enemy evacuated the bridge-head which 
was almost untenable, owing to its dilapidated state. 
General Chernisheff now brought up the infantry to 
assault the city gate, but our men were repulsed ; a 
second attempt was equally fruitless. While he was 
employed in reforming the troops and in preparing for 
a third assault, he remarked signs of sudden disorder 
on the city rampart. Though unable to divine the 
cause, he eagerly availed himself of so favourable a 
circumstance, and ordered two petards to be fastened 
to the gates, which partially blew them off the hinges. 
The light infantry then quickly advanced, and com¬ 
pleted their destruction. Foot and horse now rushed 
on, and so vigorous was the attack, that the Russians, 
having forced their way into the town, succeeded in 
capturing many prisoners and guns in the streets. The 
number of the former, among whom were three gene¬ 
rals, was 3,600, and that of the guns 14. 

Such were the trophies of a successful assault which 
had lasted two hours, and in which our loss amounted 


128 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


to 200 killed and wounded. It is worthy of notice as 
the distinguishing feature in the character of the troops 
led by the Emperor Alexander, that Soissons was not 
given up to pillage, and that order was established the 
moment the storm was over. The sudden disorder, 
which had been noticed among the enemy, was the 
consequence of the commandant General Rusca having 
received a mortal wound: he left no officer behind him 
fit to take his place and prolong the defence. This 
circumstance, which naturally contributed to the happy 
issue of the assault, must be attributed to the extraor¬ 
dinary good fortune which accompanied Chernisheff in 
all his military enterprizes, and of which he well knew 
how to avail himself. Fortune had favoured him to 
such a degree, that most of the generals who fought 
against him, were wounded or made prisoners: at 
Lunebourg, Morand died of his wounds ; at Halberstadt, 
Auxe was taken prisoner ; Castex was wounded at 
Liege, and at Soissons Rusca was killed. 

Thus was crowned with success an enterprize bril¬ 
liant in itself, and especially important by its influence 
on the campaign. It gave fresh uneasiness to Napo¬ 
leon, on the subject of the capital, where they were 
still celebrating his victories over Bliicher, secured the 
retreat of the two corps of the army of Silesia, and 
diminished the unfavourable impression produced on 
the Allies by the recent successes of Napoleon. If 
stern critics should find fault with the overdaring of an 
assault in broad day-light with troops inferior in num¬ 
ber to those of the garrison, an answer may be easily 
found. Let them only look back on that epoch of 
glory when the Russian Generals were so much accus¬ 
tomed to victory, that the possibility of a defeat did 


WINTZENGERODE AT REIMS. 


129 


enter as an element into their calculations. Animated 
and emboldened by the personal and all-powerful pre¬ 
sence of Alexander, they never ceased straining every 
nerve, by fresh exploits to render themselves still more 
deserving of his approbation. With what sentiments 
must he not have been inspired whom the Emperor 
used to call his own scholar ? 

After the taking of Soissons, for which service 
Chernisheff was raised to the rank of Lieutenant-Ge¬ 
neral, Baron Wintzengerode had resolved to march on 
Chateau Thierry ; but hardly had he given the ne¬ 
cessary orders, when he learned from the prisoners the 
victories of Napoleon over the Silesian army; the 
extent of which he ascertained from the papers of 
General Rusca. Among these was found a despatch, 
received but an hour before the assault, containing the 
details of the affairs at Champaubert, Montmirail, and 
Vauchamps, and Napoleon’s order to send off a de¬ 
tachment to meet the corps of Sacken and York, then 
in full retreat from Chateau Thierry. At the same 
time, General Wintzengerode having received in¬ 
structions from Bliicher to march to Reims, set off 
immediately for that town. Influenced by this change 
of circumstances, he did not think it expedient to 
weaken his forces by leaving a garrison in Soissons, 
which was now taken possession of by Mortier, who 
had been sent in pursuit of the Silesian army. He 
afterwards received orders to halt at Reims, and with 
his advanced-guard, under the command of Ben¬ 
kendorf, to occupy Epernay, Dormans, and other 
places on the right bank of the Marne. In this 
position he was to wait the coming up of the corps of 
Counts Stroganoff and Worontzoff, who had reached 
к 


130 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


France from the north of Germany, and were now on 
the left bank of the Rhine. In the meantime, Sacken 
and York rejoined Bliicher, who had waited for them 
at Chalons, where he was indefatigably active in re¬ 
establishing order in his army. 

In terminating our notice of these events, we have 
to add, that, at this time, the war in France began to 
assume a national character. After the defeats of the 
Silesian armies, bands of soldiers kept roving about 
in all directions. To these may be added, the 
numerous followers of the different corps, such as 
drivers, suttlers, and the lingerers, who, as usual, 
hung about the baggage; that branch of the service, 
which, down to the present day, has, in no European 
army, been put on a footing of good order. These 
insolent bands wandered about in the woods, and 
among the villages; and being no longer restrained by 
the fear of punishment, gave a loose to the impulse of 
their passions. On this head, however, there was 
much exaggeration in the French newspapers, in which 
every effort was made to make the rising of the people 
general. On the one hand, inflamed by proclamations, 
and on the other, by the possibility of overpowering 
these marauders, the inhabitants took up arms, and 
with more or less fury, continued their reprisals till the 
peace was concluded. 


131 


CHAPTER VII. 

Line of Operations of the Grand Army-Causes of Prince Schwarzenberg’s 
inaction The Allies cross the Seine—Movements of the Grand Army at 

the time of BlUcher's defeat — Alexander’s Instructions to Bliicher _ 

Results of В liicheds Defeat—Incursions of the Russian Partisans into 
the west of France—The Ataman of the Cossacks — Kosciusko. 


According to the plan of operations laid down at 
Brienne, the Grand Army was to march on Paris by 
both banks of the Seine. It reached Troyes on the 
25th January, where it was put into cantonments for 
three days. Only the advanced-guards were pushed 
forward; Count Witgenstein’s being posted between 
Мёгу and Nogent, Count Wrede’s on the road to 
Trenelle, and Count Giulay’s and General Bianchi’s 
in the direction of Sens, Villeneuve, and Auxonne. 
Count Barclay, with the reserves, lay at Mery, and the 
Emperor Alexander, whose original intention it was to 
follow with the army, halted at Troyes, where some 
discussion on the subject of peace took place. 

By this disposition of his troops, Prince Schwarzen- 
berg apparently took every measure of precaution used 
in defensive warfare. He covered, to a great distance, 
the flanks of the army, and, as if he were dreading 
an attack from every quarter, scattered his forces in 
all directions. Dispositions, so far inferior to his 
talents, were not the results of his conviction of their 
expediency, but were made in order to give the Aus¬ 
trian cabinet time to take measures for realizing its 
к 2 


132 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


intention of making peace. On this subject, Prince 
Schwarzenberg had been furnished with a secret order 
from his court, not to cross to the right bank of the 
Seine. I am not the only person who learned from 
the lips of the Emperor Alexander a circumstance 
which explains the Prince’s conduct at this period of 
the campaign. His Majesty ascertained this fact from 
Schwarzenberg himself at the Congress of Vienna. 
Such was the real cause of the inaction of the Grand 
Army after the occupation of Troyes ; and why, in 
pursuit of the enemy, after the victory of Brienne, it 
took up ten days in marching from the field of battle 
to Nogent, a distance of only a hundred versts. 

From ignorance of the true cause which we have 
now stated, Prince Schwarzenberg’s conduct has been 
the subject of much mistaken criticism. Some have 
ascribed his tardy advance, and the dissemination of 
his troops, to his narrow capacity; and others to the 
fear by which Napoleon, as they would make us believe, 
had paralyzed the Allies. Even during the war itself, 
while we were at Troyes, the dispositions of Prince 
Schwarzenberg appeared incomprehensible, because 
nobody suspected their true motives. We then had 
no idea that the Commander-in-chief was striving to 
conceal his real purpose by decent pretences ; such, for 
instance, as preserving the troops from the effects of 
rainy weather, by abstaining from forced marches, 
guarding against a deficiency in the supplies, or the 
necessity of taking every precaution against a sudden 
attack by Napoleon. He was no longer allowed to 
think of attacking Napoleon, having been expressly 
ordered not to commit to the chances of war, the fruits 
of the successes already gained, and was told that the 


THE ALLIES CROSS THE SEINE. 


133 


time for signing a peace was now come. He was 
bound, unconditionally, to obey ; to keep his move¬ 
ments in accordance with the order he had received, 
and to make strategetical calculations subservient to 
the combinations of diplomacy: these last, however, 
were speedily destroyed by Napoleon. 

The victory of Brienne had been gained on the 20th 
January, and on the 28th, the Grand Army was still 
in cantonments between Troyes, Villeneuve, and Mery. 
On that day, Prince Schwarzenberg received a report 
from Count Pahlen, that Colonel Vlassof, of the 
Cossacks, who had been sent to Villenauxe, had dis¬ 
covered Napoleon’s movement from Nogent to Se¬ 
zanne ; but this most important intelligence did not 
induce the Commander-in-chief to take any measures 
whatever. His position had, doubtless, become a very 
painful one. On the one hand, he could not act in op¬ 
position to the strict orders which had been given him ; 
and on the other, Alexander was continually sending 
Prince Volkonsky to him to endeavour to rouse him 
from a state of inaction; the evil effects of which the 
Field Marshal certainly saw as well as others. He 
well knew that he was not only letting slip an oppor¬ 
tunity for gaining glory, but he was making himself an 
object of reproach. At length, on the 29th January, 
being no longer able to resist the pressing instances of 
the Emperor, he began gradually to put his army in 
motion: Counts Witgenstein and Wr£de marched to 
Nogent and Bray, and the other corps to Sens and 
Montereau. 

The defence of the Seine at Nogent, Bray, and 
Mont£reau, had been confided by Napoleon, before 
he set out to attack Bliicher, to Marshals Oudinot and 


134 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Victor; and that of Sens and the banks of the Yonne 
to General Alix. On approaching Nogent, Count 
Pahlen had some warm affairs with the troops posted 
in advance of that town, under the command of Ge¬ 
neral Bourmont, afterwards well known as the con¬ 
queror of Algiers. Prince Schwarzenberg having in 
person reconnoitred the environs of Nogent, was of 
opinion, that to take the town by storm would occasion 
much bloodshed: contenting himself, therefore, with 
leaving some troops to observe it, he ordered Count 
Witgenstein to cross the Seine at Pont-sur- Seine, and 
Count Wr6d6 to do the same at Bray. The object of 
this manoeuvre was to threaten the communications of 
the enemy’s division at Nogent with the main body, 
which had already retired to Provins. As soon as the 
French saw that they were going to be turned, they 
evacuated the town, having long defended the point 
assigned to them, and fulfilled the intentions of Na¬ 
poleon. On reaching Nogent, Prince Schwarzenberg 
heard a distant cannonade in the direction of S£zanne 
and Villenauxe. It was that of the affair at Champ- 
aubert, to which he paid no attention, saying, that he 
knew from the credible reports of his spies, that Na¬ 
poleon must be in Paris, on account of troubles which 
had broken out in the capital. In the meantime, while 
Counts Witgenstein and W^de were beginning to 
cross the Seine, the hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg 
took Sens by assault, and the Austrians marched to 
Montereau and Fontainbleau. 

This general advance of the Grand Army, and the 
circumstance of the passages of the Seine being now 
in the hands of the Allies, induced Marshals Victor 
and Oudinot to retire from Provins to Nangis, where 


RESULT OF BLUCHER’S DEFEAT. 


135 


they were joined by Marshal Macdonald, who, on 
Bliicher’s first descending the Marne, had been driven 
back to Meaux. As they doubted the possibility of 
longer making head against the Grand Army, they 
addressed themselves to Napoleon’s brother, Joseph, 
now the leading personage in Paris, requesting to 
know his pleasure as to ulterior operations. Their 
baggage-waggons had already reached Charenton, 
which may be counted among the suburbs of Paris, 
and where their arrival alarmed the inhabitants the 
more, that during the preceding days the government 
had used every possible means, by circulating ex¬ 
aggerated reports of the affair at Champaubert and 
Montmirail, to make people believe that all danger 
had vanished. By order of the police, the printing 
presses of Paris were kept at work night and day to 
announce the triumph of Napoleon, and the deliverance 
of the capital. A council of war resolved that the 
Marshals should retire to the river Yeres, and take up 
a position near Guignes and Chaumes, which was well 
adapted to enable a small body of troops to offer a 
temporary resistance to superior forces. On the 3rd 
February, the Marshals occupied the appointed po¬ 
sition, and there awaited Napoleon’s orders. These 
commanders, who, at no remote periods, had led their 
legions to the conquest of distant lands, now despaired 
of saving the capital of France ! But destiny put off, 
for six weeks longer, the execution of her decree. 

Hardly had Counts Witgenstein and Wrede begun 
to cross the Seine, when on the 30th January, Major- 
General Count Witt, arrived at Troyes with a report 
from Field Marshal Bliicher, that Napoleon had turned 
upon him, routed Olsoofief, and cut off' the commu- 


136 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

locations between the corps of the Silesian army. 
This report was presented by Prince Volkonsky to the 
Emperor at the moment His Majesty was engaged in 
a warm discussion with Lord Castlereagh, on the ne¬ 
cessity of prolonging the war, and of acting with en- 
creased energy. Blucher’s failure was a most eloquent 
argument in support of the Emperor’s views. With 
an expression of anger and indignation, His Majesty 
communicated to his Lordship the contents of the 
report; adding, this was the fruits of insisting for 
peace, and of the inaction of the Grand Army. It 
was now determined, in order to threaten the rear of 
the army which had marched with Napoleon, to hasten 
the passage of the Seine by the three corps of the 
Grand Army at Nogent, Bray, and Montereau, and 
to concentrate them at Provins. The two corps of 
Austrians were ordered to continue their advance to 
Fontainbleau, and the reserve of Count Barclay to 
march from Mery to Nogent. By this disposition, the 
right wing of the army was posted at Nogent, and 
the left at Montereau, in readiness, the moment the 
hourly-expected intelligence of Napoleon’s movements 
should arrive, to move towards the Marne on his rear, 
or, if he should have retired to Paris, to march thither 
along the Seine. 

Desiring in this important conjuncture to be nearer 
to the army, the Emperor left Troyes, and took up his 
residence near Pont-sur-Seine, at a country seat be¬ 
longing to Napoleon’s mother, and where she usually 
spent the summer. Here His Majesty employed him¬ 
self in arranging measures for assisting Blucher, and 
of extricating him from his difficult position. The 
following order, addressed to the Field Marshal on the 


INSTRUCTIONS TO BLUCHER. 


137 


3rd February, will explain them. “ From a report 
this moment received from General Diebitch,” writes 
the Emperor, “ we have learned, that yesterday the 
enemy marched in great force from Montmirail to 
Etoges, on the great Chalons road. It is thus probable 
that you, with the corps of Generals Kleist and Kapts- 
evitch, will have had to sustain the undivided shock of 
the enemy, and to retire to Chalons. It is also likely 
that Generals Sacken and York were not only unable 
to force their way at Montmirail; but, as appears from 
papers taken from an intercepted courier, were driven 
beyond the Marne. On these grounds we have taken 
the following measures for your support, which I hasten 
to communicate to you. 

“ 1. The corps of Counts Witgenstein and 
shall instantly march on the enemy’s communications 
to La Ferte-sous-Jouarre and Montmirail. 

“ 2. The Grand Army shall take up a position in 
support of these corps. 

“ It is considered as most expedient that you should 
march on Vitry, with Kleist and Kaptsevitch, and 
order Sacken and York to retire on the corps of 
Wintzengerode and Biilow, or, if possible, to join you 
at Reims with all their troops. Circumstances must 
decide what you are to do. In the former case, if you 
should march to Vitry, which seems most advisable, 
you could join the Grand Army on the day of action; 
and in the latter, you will be able to act on the enemy’s 
communications. 

“ As I have reason to think that your couriers have 
been intercepted, it will be better to send them by 
two roads.” Agreeably to this plan, Count Witgen¬ 
stein marched to Nogent, Count W^de to Donne- 


138 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Marie, the Hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg to Mon- 
tereau, and the reserves, by the Emperor’s orders, 
were posted between Nogent and Pont-sur-Seine. 
Hardly were these movements completed, when news 
was brought from Bliicher of his having been attacked 
by the French at Vauchamps, and of his retreat by 
the road to Chalons. In these circumstances, Prince 
Schwarzenberg, being ignorant of Napoleon’s designs 
in that quarter, and being under apprehension for the 
safety of the rear and the right wing of the army, 
thought fit to move by that flank on Arcis-sur-Aube. 
In order to conceal this movement, and to retard the 
march of Napoleon’s forces, which were supposed to 
be following Bliicher, Counts Witgenstein and Wrede 
were ordered to march on Sezanne, and to act on the 
offensive in the enemy’s rear ; the Hereditary Prince of 
Wirtemberg received orders to retire from Mont6reau 
on Nogent, Mery, and Arcis; Giulay’s corps on 
Troyes, and Bianchi to return from Fontainbleau to 
Sens. 

These dispositions, however, were made in vain. 
Hardly had the orders been despatched, when, in the 
night of the 3rd February, the Prussian General, 
Hack, arrived from Bliicher with the intelligence, that, 
after the affairs at Etoges, Napoleon had given up the 
pursuit of the Silesian army, and had returned to 
Montmirail. On the very instant the Emperor, ac¬ 
companied by Prince Volkonsky, set off with the news 
to Prince Schwarzenberg at Nogent, waked the Field 
Marshal, who little expected such a visit, sat down on 
his bed, and concerted with him the measures which 
were now to be taken. It was resolved, as a con¬ 
sequence of the change of circumstances, to stop the 


RESULT OF BLUCHER’S DEFEAT. 


139 


movements of the Grand Army on S6zanne, Arcis, and 
Troyes, and to order the corps not to stir from their 
positions till certain information were received of the 
enemy’s movements, and till Bliicher should have re¬ 
ported at what time he counted on getting his troops 
together, in order to act simultaneously with the Grand 
Army. These arrangements being made, the Em¬ 
peror, on the morning of the 4th February, crossed 
over to Bray, from whence he wrote to Bliicher as 
follows: 

“ It is my desire that you should march, with all 
possible speed to join us, through Sezanne. With 
regard to the corps of Sacken and York, you will 
order them to cross to the left bank of the Marne, to 
reach the Chalons road at Etoges or Vertus, and to 
кеер in close connexion with you. With this view, it 
will be the best plan to cross the river, either at Chalons 
or Epernay. You will immediately let me know when 
these corps have crossed the Marne, and have reached 
Etoges or Vertus. If General Wintzengerode has 
effected his junction with Sacken and York, they will 
all cross the Marne together, and Biilow alone will 
continue his operations on the right bank of that river. 
On the contrary, if Biilow is still far behind, Wint¬ 
zengerode must remain on the right bank until he comes 
up ; after which, he will join Sacken and York. 

“ If Bulow has already reached the Marne, then 
Wintzengerode, Sacken, and York will cross the river 
together ; and observing the inviolable rule of keeping 
their troops in one body, use all diligence to effect 
their junction with you.” 

The defeats sustained by Bliicher produced most 
unpleasant effects on the minds of our Allies ; for the 


140 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


triumphs of 1813 could not efface from their memory 
the long series of Napoleon’s victories in former years. 
And doubtless, at the time, the blows inflicted on the 
Silesian army were naturally felt as severe ; but now, 
on reviewing them, with reference to the general march 
of events, we shall see that their consequences were 
beneficial. We have seen that at the moment Na¬ 
poleon was ruining Bliicher, Alexander had to en¬ 
counter almost equal difficulties in diplomatic dis¬ 
cussions, and in his efforts to bring the Allies to the 
resolution of not concluding a peace. They were not 
convinced by his arguments; but after Bliicher’s defeat, 
having good reason to think that Napoleon would not 
agree to the conditions offered him at Chatillon, they 
were obliged to give at least a temporary assent to the 
Emperor’s opinion on the necessity of prolonging 
hostilities. Hence, it follows, that the affairs at 
Champaubert, Montmirail, and Vauchamps, on the one 
hand, ruined the hopes of those who wished, and 
urgently pressed for peace ; and on the other, that 
the success which, for some days, crowned the arms of 
Napoleon, brought him nearer to his final destruction. 
He might, probably, have escaped it, if his enterprises 
against Bliicher had been less successful; for, in that 
case, he would no longer have persisted in rejecting 
the proposals of the Allies, but would have made up 
his mind to make the sacrifices demanded of him, and 
thus have kept possession of his throne. A momentary 
triumph filled him with the hope of crushing his op¬ 
ponents, and incited him to continue the war ; in other 
words, to do the very thing which the Emperor wished 
him to do. 

Although the fate of the campaign was to be decided 


THE ATAMAN OF THE COSSACKS. 


141 


where Alexander and Napoleon were personally present, 
we shall leave these rivals for a while, with the Seine 
between them, and turn to the operations of Platof 
and Seslavin. Their operations had no influence on 
the result of the campaign ; but it will not be unin¬ 
teresting to follow the Russians in Western France, 
where our countrymen had never penetrated. A slight 
sketch of their incursions will help to relieve the mind 
of the reader from the contemplation of the bloody 
scenes we have been describing, and to which we must 
shortly return. 

From the beginning of the campaign, Platof’s de¬ 
tachment marched a-head of the General Army, but 
rather to the right, in order to keep up the communica¬ 
tions with Field Marshal Bliicher. When the concen¬ 
tration of the armies had been accomplished, and the 
battle of Brienne gained, it was no longer considered 
necessary that Count Platof should remain on the right 
wing, and it was therefore resolved that he should ad¬ 
vance to Nemours, Fontainbleau, and Melun, with 
three thousand Cossacks, and a troop of the Artillery 
of the Don. This was the last occasion on which the 
renowned Ataman, who had enjoyed greater influence 
over his men than any of his predecessors, appeared on 
the theatre of war. It would here be out of place to 
examine how far he personally contributed to the suc¬ 
cess of his countrymen of the Don, but we cannot 
allow ourselves to forget, that during the time he com¬ 
manded them, they secured to themselves an ample 
space in the page of history. While the Russian 
standard was borne from Moscow through all Europe, 
the Cossacks were ever at the head of the army. 
They were the first to enter the ruined Kremlin;—at 


142 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


in which there were no fortified places, and conse- 
Konigsberg to announce the independence of the 
Prussians, and to proclaim it in Berlin under the 
windows of the royal palace, while their comrades, 
amidst the acclamations of the Saxons were the first to 
enter Dresden. In Hamburg, in Cassel, in Bremen, 
in Leipzig, on the banks of the Rhine, in Rotterdam, 
in the capital of Charles the Great, the children of the 
Don were the first to witness the tears of joy shed by 
the inhabitants in the enthusiasm of gratitude for their 
deliverance from an iron yoke, and to see the French 
eagles trodden under foot at their approach. It may 
be regarded as a calculation nearly approaching to the 
truth, that during these memorable years the Cossacks 
captured upwards of three hundred pieces of cannon, 
and a hundred thousand prisoners; but their proudest 
boast was ever to have been the first to hear the bless¬ 
ings which the nations poured on the mighty name of 
Alexander! 

Towards the end of January, Platof crossed the 
Yonne, and advancing to Aigrevilliers, sent out parties 
in every direction. Their appearance completely 
thwarted the measures of the French government in 
these districts, by rendering it impossible to draw any 
supplies from them. This was the real object of the 
detachment, and in order the more completely to ac¬ 
complish it, Count Platof resolved to gain possession 
of Nemours. Napoleon considered this town to be of 
great importance to the security of the whole country 
round it, and had lately sent thither, as commandant, 
an old staff officer of his guard. The fall of Nemours 
would necessarily place in the hands of the Allies the 
whole country between the Yonne and the Ouanne, 


SUCCESSES OF THE COSSACKS. 


143 


quently nothing to embarrass the operations of light 
troops. 

On the 3d February Platof approached Nemours, 
demanded its surrender, and having received a refusal, 
went up to the assault. The Cossacks lost no time in 
making themselves masters of the suburbs, and their 
artillery fired with such effect, that most of the 
enemy’s cannoneers were killed or wounded ; but still 
the Commandant persisted in defending the town. As 
soon as it was dark, the Cossacks renewed the attack, 
broke down the city gates, and rushed into the streets 
pike in hand. The French then proposed to capitu¬ 
late, on condition of the garrison being allowed to 
retire to Fontainbleau. This condition, however, was 
rejected, and as part of the town was already in the 
hands of the Russians, the Commandant, with the 
whole garrison, amounting to six hundred men and 
seventeen officers, were made prisoners of war along 
with four pieces of cannon. On taking Nemours, the 
Ataman sent his report to the Emperor, which we 
shall here give entire, for this reason, that its style, 
which is no longer used in such documents, and is 
indeed unknown to the present generation, recals the 
reign of the Empress Catherine, and bears on it the 
impress of the age of that great woman :— 

“ Most Gracious Sovereign ! 

“ I take the liberty of offering my most humble con¬ 
gratulations on the victory at Nemours, gained by a 
detachment of the faithful troops of Your Imperial 
Majesty. May the victorious standard of a Most 
Gracious Monarch be soon unfurled with new glory on 
the walls of a proud capital, for the subjection of the 


144 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


enemies of the world in the name of my most Serene 
Sovereign and Father!” 

It is a curious fact that the weakest point of 
Nemours, that at which the attack was made, was 
pointed out by one of the most inveterate enemies of 
Russia, Kost6wshko,* well known for the part he took 
in the Polish insurrection, in the year 1794. Taken 
prisoner by Count Fersen, and afterwards loaded with 
favours by the Emperor Paul, he went to France, 
where he settled on the banks of the Ouanne. One of 
our patrols having reached the neighbourhood of the 
estate on which he resided, the following letter was 
handed to the officer who commanded it:—“ I am a 
Pole, and my name is Kostewshko; I once had the 
honour of commanding the armies of my country. I 
afterwards retired from the world to the village of 
Berville belonging to my friend Mr. Zeltner, formerly 
Swiss minister at Paris. We have lived for fifteen 
years together, unknown by any body. I have now to 
request you will do us the favour to place a few 
Russian soldiers on our estate, in order to protect us 
from the stragglers and lingerers. If you have not 
authority to grant my request, have the goodness to 
forward my letter to the Commander-in-chief.” Kos- 
t6wshko’s desire was gratified. He had Russians bil¬ 
leted on him, and was politely treated. At this very 
time Count Platof was planning the assault of Ne¬ 
mours, and Captain Bergman of the Guards, who was 
then attached to him, having introduced the subject in 
the course of conversation with Kost£wshko, who was 
quite familiar with the localities, the latter sketched a 

* Usually written Kosciusko. 


PROGRESS OF THE COSSACKS. 145 

plan of the town, and pointed out to him the proper 
point of attack. 

After the taking of Nemours, Count Platof sent 
parties to watch the enemy’s troops which were coming 
up to Paris from Orleans, and then marched in person 
to Fontainebleau in order to liberate the Pope who was 
there kept in captivity. In this attempt, however, he 
did not succeed, for His Holiness had been removed 
from Fontainebleau two days before the arrival of the 
Cossacks. Our detachment passed twenty-four hours 
in this summer palace of the French monarchs, but 
was obliged to retire on the appearance of a consider¬ 
able body of the enemy. 

At the same time with Count Platof, Major- 
General Seslavin was sent from the left wing of the 
Grand Army to act on the enemy’s line of communi¬ 
cations between Orleans and Paris, and to get intelli¬ 
gence of the troops which were on their march from 
the Spanish frontier to join Napoleon. On the 29th 
January he reached the Ouanne near Montargis. As 
he was about to cross this river he was met by a small 
body of French troops, who had been joined by the 
peasants of the neighbourhood. They tried to prevent 
him from throwing a bridge, but were driven off. The 
Cossacks having crossed the river by swimming, pur¬ 
sued them beyond Montargis and then entered the 
town. “ The inhabitants,” according to Seslavin’s 
report, “ spoke with enthusiasm of the Emperor 
Alexander, calling him their deliverer.” From Mon¬ 
targis the detachment advanced through Pithiviers 
towards Orleans, and, after several successful skir¬ 
mishes with different French parties, came within 


146 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

twenty versts of the latter town. Seslavin gave orders 
to ruin the navigation of the Orleans canal, which 
unites the Loire and the Seine, and serves to transport 
supplies from the southern provinces to Paris. He 
likewise caused the vessels in it to be burned, the locks 
to be destroyed, and the water let off. But the Em¬ 
peror, on receiving the report of what had been done, 
ordered the canal to be repaired, and availed himself 
of this occasion to repeat his express orders that the 
troops should endeavour to do the least possible injury 
to the inhabitants; the object of the war being to free 
them from the yoke of oppression. 

This circumstance recals to our memory a trait of 
the Emperor’s boyhood. When the Empress Ca¬ 
therine asked him what had given him most pleasure 
in the history he was reading, he answered : “ the be¬ 
haviour of Henry IV., who, during the siege of Paris, 
sent provisions to the inhabitants.” The innocent boy 
spoke on the impulse of his innate love to suffering 
humanity, little thinking that an opportunity was re¬ 
served for him, not merely of imitating Henry IV., 
but even of surpassing that monarch in acts of bene¬ 
ficence to the city of Paris. 

Our partizans did not penetrate farther into the 
West of France, having been ordered to return on the 
general retreat of the Grand Army to Troyes. Had 
it not been for this order, nothing could have stopped 
them from going on, nor hindered their junction with 
the Duke of Wellington, who was then near Bayonne. 
Even before the passage of the Rhine, Seslavin and 
Baron Geismar, and afterwards Colonel Bock, re¬ 
quested leave to join the English commander by cross- 


■i 


PROGRESS OF THE COSSACKS. 


147 


ing through France with flying detachments, but did 
not receive His Majesty’s permission. Although this 
daring attempt was not made, we have thought it right 
to notice it as a proof of the enterprizing spirit of Rus¬ 
sian officers. 


14В 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

Position of the Allied Armies—Count Witgenstein leaves Provins — Napo¬ 
leon attacks the Grand Army—Count Pahlen Retreats—Affair at Mor- 
mant—Russians sustain much loss at Bray—Colonel Leble taken prisoner 
—Justification of the conduct of General Witgenstein—Retreat to Troyes 
—Junction with Bliicher — Murat declares War against Napoleon — 
Napoleon desires peace with Austria—Suspension of hostilities proposed 
—Retreat to Bar-sur-Aube—Council of War. 

Napoleon by beating the army of Silesia, and forcing 
it back on Chalons, averted the danger which had 
threatened Paris, but did not pursue Bliicher beyond 
Etoges. Leaving Marshals Mortier and Marmont to 
act against him, he himself, with the guard and the 
rest of the troops, returned from Champaubert through 
Montmirail to Meaux, from whence he purposed com¬ 
mencing offensive operations against the Grand Army. 
He had already sent word to Marshals Macdonald, 
Victor, and Oudinot that he was coming up to their 
aid, and that he would speedily reach the ground on 
which they were posted at Guignes. On the 4th 
February the whole army assembled by forced marches 
at this point. On the same day Napoleon was joined 
by a considerable body of horse and foot which had 
arrived from Spain, and the order was given for the 
whole army to move forward on the following morn¬ 
ing. And thus for the third time in this campaign, 
Napoleon prepared to act on the offensive, and for the 
third time met the Russians in the front line of his 
opponents. 

At this time the three corps of the Grand Army 


POSITION OF THE ALLIES. 


149 


were on the right bank of the Seine : the Hereditary 
Prince of Wirtemberg lay at Montereau, Count Wrede 
at Donne-Marie and Bray, and Count Witgenstein, 
who, though by the tenor of his instructions he should 
have halted at Provins, yet disregarding the order of 
Prince Schwarzenberg, had marched to Nangis, and 
sent forward his advanced guard to Mormant under 
the command of Count Pahlen. In the night of the 
4th, the enemy wishing to ascertain whether the Rus¬ 
sians had retreated from Mormant, approached our 
line, but being met with discharges of grape, returned 
to their camp. From the patrols and French deserters, 
Count Pahlen learned the arrival of Napoleon at 
Guignes, and of his intention to attack. He instantly 
reported this to the commander of the corps, but re¬ 
ceived no answer. On reading the report of the gene¬ 
ral of his advanced-guard, Count Witgenstein thought 
he had exaggerated the danger. 

Count Pahlen was now in a most difficult situation. 
On the one hand he was convinced that Napoleon 
might be hourly expected to fall upon him with his 
whole forces, while on the other, he had no possibility 
of avoiding the blow ; for he had orders to remain at 
Mormant, and had received no answer to a second 
report which he had sent to the commander of the 
corps. Without orders he could not retreat, as by 
retiring, he would have drawn down the enemy on the 
troops of Count Witgenstein then at Nangis, and have 
exposed them to a defeat. In this extremity he re¬ 
solved to pass the whole night under arms, and to wait 
the event. 

In the meantime Prince Schwarzenberg wrote to 
Count Witgenstein that he disapproved of his move¬ 
ment on Nangis and Mormant. He farther told him 


150 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

that when he had ordered his corps and that of Count 
Wrede to the right bank of the Seine, it was not with 
the intention that they should advance on Paris, but 
that they should take up a position at Donne-Marie 
and Provins, and stand on Napoleon’s flank when he 
should attack Bliicher, and thus, according to the Field 
Marshal’s idea, divide the enemy’s attention and impede 
the concentration of his troops. The Commander-in- 
Chief complained to the Emperor that Count Witgen- 
stein was acting arbitrarily and contrary to his instruc¬ 
tions, in proof of which he presented the Count’s report 
in the original. The result was, that Prince Volkon¬ 
sky on the 4th February, signified His Majesty’s com¬ 
mands to the Count in the following terms : “ The 
Emperor has seen with the greatest astonishment, by 
your report to the Field Marshal, that you have left 
Provins with your whole corps, and have advanced to 
Nangis, thus laying our right flank completely open. 
This movement is contrary to the ideas of Prince 
Schwarzenberg, for the enemy in considerable force 
still occupies Montmirail and La Ferte sous Jouarre, 
and by taking the direction of Provins, may easily in¬ 
terrupt our communications. His Majesty commands 
me to inform you, that in the present circumstances, 
the enemy being now at a very short distance from us, 
you are not, without a special order, to make any 
movement of importance, as from a want of harmony 
in the general operations, disastrous consequences may 
ensue.” 

On receiving this order Count Witgenstein caused 
his corps to return from Nangis to Provins, and sent 
word to Count Pahlen that he should also retire on 
that town, leaving the light cavalry to watch the enemy 


RETREAT OF COUNT PAHLEN. 


151 


till it should be relieved by the Austrian advanced- 
guard of Count Wred6’s corps, which was then at 
Nangis. After seeing his troops in march for Provins, 
Count Witgenstein rode off to the advanced-guard. 

His aide-de-camp, Count Goorief, the present am¬ 
bassador at Rome, reached the advanced-guard with 
the order to retreat, when Count Pahlen was already 
pressed on every side and had abandoned Mormant. 
To add to his embarrassment, the Count learned from 
the aide-de-camp, that the corps had left Nangis for 
Provins; of course he had no longer any hope of re¬ 
ceiving a reinforcement till he should reach that town, 
which was nearly forty versts distant. He had now no 
other course to pursue but to retire, as he best could, 
before Napoleon, who at day-break had moved against 
him from Guignes and Chaulmes, and was now ap¬ 
proaching with an overpowering force. On perceiving 
the advance of the enemy, whom he had been all night 
expecting, Count Pahlen sent off his artillery by the 
high road, followed by the infantry regiments of Reval, 
Selengwinsk, Esthonia, and the 25th light infantry. 
The flanks were covered by nine weak squadrons of 
the Tchugooief hulans, and hussars of Olviopol and 
Soomsk with two regiments of Cossacks: a few guns 
were left in the rear-guard. 

For more than an hour, the retreat was conducted 
in good order. The infantry kept up their fire, and 
coolly received that of the enemy’s batteries, at the 
same time repulsing the first attacks of the cavalry. 
The enemy’s charges, however, continued to increase 
in weight and vigour, and there now came on large 
bodies of the cavalry which had just arrived from Spain. 
These veterans, eager to restore its former lustre to 


152 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


the French arms, and encouraged by Napoleon’s recent 
victories and by the presence of the whole army, 
furiously charged the infantry and the cavalry, which 
was retreating by both sides of the road. Our hussars, 
hulans and Cossacks, being at length completely sur¬ 
rounded, were routed, the centre was broken, and the 
whole advanced-guard receiving no reinforcement, was 
put to flight. Even Count Witgenstein and the chief of 
his staff D’Auvray who were present in the combat, were 
hurried away in the general rout. The latter was on the 
point of falling into the enemy’s hands, but his aide-de- 
camps, who were following him, by flogging his horse 
which was slipping on the ice, enabled him to escape 
being made a prisoner. It was in vain that Counts 
Witgenstein and Pahlen sent to beg aid from one of 
the allied generals who was lying with Count Wrede’s 
advanced guard between Nangis and Donne-Marie. 
Returning them for answer, that he had received orders 
not to fight, he retired to Donne-Marie; but he too 
was overtaken by the French, and at Bray sustained 
considerable loss. 

The fury of the pursuit slackened beyond Nangis, 
near Maison-Rouge. Here the French divided ; Mar¬ 
shal Victor turning off to Donne-Marie, and Marshal 
Oudinot going on to Provins, where Count Witgen- 
stein’s corps was in position. Our loss on this day 
amounted to nine guns, and 2,114 killed and missing. 
The foot regiments of the advanced-guard defended 
themselves long and obstinately. Colonel ЬеЫё, of 
the regiment of Selenguinsk, repulsed several charges 
of cavalry, and continued to fight with desperation, till 
he was cut down, and taken prisoner. So heavy was 
the loss* of this regiment, and that of Reval, that for 
* 1359 men. 


CONDUCT OF WITGENSTEIN. 


153 


some time they ceased to exist, and were marked in the 
reports as “ sent to Plotsk to be recruited.” At the 
barrier of Paris, as the Emperor was entering the 
capital, His Majesty seeing Pahlen for the first time 
after the affair of Nangis said to him : “ You think I 
am angry with you, but I know you were not in fault.” 

When the news of this defeat reached head-quarters, 
a division of cuirassiers were sent to reinforce Count 
W 7 itgenstein, and the grenadier corps was brought to 
Nogent where the Emperor soon arrived in person. 
All were unanimous in blaming Count Witgenstein 
for having, without permission and contrary to the plan 
laid down, advanced from Provins to Nangis ; for 
nobody doubted that our disaster had been occasioned 
by this movement. Yet it may be stated in his justi¬ 
fication, that he was bound to watch the enemy before 
him, and to push forward his advanced-guard to Mor- 
mant, when his old acquaintances Oudinot and Victor 
had retreated to Guignes and Chaulmes from the 
banks of the Dwina; for if he had remained at Pro¬ 
vins, he must have lost sight of them, especially as he 
was in a country where no reliance could be placed on 
the reports of the hostilely disposed inhabitants. But 
even if he had found spies, what experienced comman¬ 
der w r ould think of acting on their information, and 
would not desire to ascertain with his own eyes the 
correctness of their reports ? As Count W^itgenstein’s 
right wing was covered by the detachments of General 
Diebitch at Montmirail and Prince Lubomirsky at La 
Ferte Gaucher, he thought it his duty to advance to 
Nangis, in order to be near his advanced-guard, and 
to reinforce it in case of an attack. He considered 
this movement as so much the less dangerous, that on 


154 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


the preceding day he had received intelligence from 
General Diebitch of Napoleon’s march from Montmi- 
rail to Coulommiers. It appears to have been this 
report that led him wrong, for he erroneously concluded 
from it that Napoleon was certainly retreating on Paris ; 
forgetting that from Coulommiers the enemy could 
descend to Guignes, as he actually did. I therefore 
venture to think that on this occasion, he went wrong 
in his calculations, acted with too much confidence, 
and did not pay sufficient attention to the reports of 
Count Pahlen, who more than once gave him notice of 
Napoleon’s arrival with his whole army to the support 
of Victor and Oudinot, and shewed him that the ad¬ 
vanced-guard was threatened with immediate danger, 
to avert which no measures whatever were taken. 

In order to understand Count Witgenstein’s unautho¬ 
rized advance to Nangis, we must take into the account 
a moral feature of his character. He was in the 
Russian army what Blucher was in the Prussian, and 
like that commander held the French, whom both had 
often vanquished, in contempt. He fully shared Bliicher’s 
dissatisfaction with Prince Schwarzenberg for his dila¬ 
toriness, thought that the only way to triumph over 
Napoleon was by resolution and promptitude, and that 
there was no time to be lost in getting to Paris, where 
he was anxious to arrive before his rival in glory, 
Blucher. These opinions were quite opposed to the 
conduct which had been prescribed to Prince Schwar¬ 
zenberg, and drew from him reproaches, of the sin¬ 
cerity of which we may, for the sake of his honour, be 
permitted to doubt. He certainly was fully convinced 
that instead of scattering the troops on both banks of 
the Seine, and sending the Austrian corps to Fontaine- 


NAPOLEON ATTACKS THE ALLIES. 


155 


bleau, his true plan was to concentrate his whole army 
on the right bank of that river, to fall upon Napoleon 
in flank and rear, force him back on the Marne, and 
cut him off from Paris. The unaided corps of Counts 
Witgenstein and Wrede, wherever they might have 
been posted on the right bank, must, sooner or later, 
on Napoleon’s first attack, have been compelled to re¬ 
treat with more or less loss. 

From Provins Count Witgenstein marched to No- 
gent, and Count Wrede having on the same day been 
driven out of Donne-Marie, retreated to Bray. It was 
equally Napoleon’s plan to fall upon the Hereditary 
Prince of Wirtemberg, who was lying in advance of 
Montereau; but the corps of Marshal Victor, which 
had been sent against him, was unable, from over- 
fatigue, to reach its destination in time, a circumstance 
which cost the Marshal his command. Thus we have 
seen that, on the 5th February, Napoleon succeeded 
in driving back to the Seine a great part of the allied 
army which was on the right bank. On the following 
day our corps crossed the river, with the exception of 
the Prince of Wirtemberg, who was ordered to main¬ 
tain his position at Montereau, in order to give the 
rest of the troops time to assemble, and to secure them 
from being outflanked on the left. The reserves were 
lying at Trenelle, where the Emperor arrived on the 
6th February at five o’clock in the morning. The 
Austrians, who occupied Fontainebleau, received orders 
to retire to the right bank of the Yonne, in order to 
rejoin the army. On this day Napoleon attacked the 
Prince of Wirtemberg, who manfully defended him¬ 
self, but was at last, after sustaining a heavy loss, 
obliged to yield to the superior forces of the enemy. 


156 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


It is said that Napoleon, under the fire of the Wirtem- 
bergers, betook himself to his old profession, pointed a 
gun, and on being reminded of the danger to which he 
was exposing himself, answered, “ Don’t be alarmed : 
the ball which is to kill me is not yet cast.” The say¬ 
ing was a correct one; for it was neither iron nor lead, 
but the firmness of Alexander, which annihilated him 
whose existence had been but a bloody mockery of 
destiny over humanity. 

When Napoleon had made himself master of 
Montereau and the other passages of the Seine, and 
could thus act on the offensive against the Grand 
Army, it was resolved not to give battle at Trenelle, 
but to retreat to Troyes, there to unite all the corps, 
and then wait for the arrival of Bliicher, to whom, as 
we have seen from the preceding chapter, the Emperor 
had written on the 4th February, consequently on the 
eve of Napoleon’s attack on the corps of Witgenstein 
and Wrede. 

And now, as at Brienne, Napoleon’s offensive opera¬ 
tions served only to hasten the junction of the allied 
armies. Both times this happened from his not having 
attacked them in flank or on their line of communica¬ 
tion. We have in the proper place explained the 
reasons why his movement on Brienne was not produc¬ 
tive of the advantages he expected. His attack on the 
Grand Army, on the 5th February, was of equally 
small advantage to him ; for he only pushed back the 
heads of its columns to a certain distance. It is no 
doubt true, that in the different affairs at Mormant, 
Bray, and Montereau, he captured colours and cannon, 
and made 4,000 prisoners; but these trophies, exagge¬ 
rated tenfold in the French bulletins, were in them- 


JUNCTION WITH BLUCHER. 


157 


selves but of small importance, for the communications 
with the Silesian army were not only left uninterrupted, 
but rendered still easier by Napoleon’s movement 
against our left wing. On the contrary, if he had 
fallen on Prince Schwarzenberg’s right wing, and 
driven it back as far as the Yonne, he might well have 
looked for the most brilliant results. But in this cam¬ 
paign, which is erroneously held up as a masterly dis¬ 
play of Napoleon’s military skill, if we except his ad¬ 
mirable movement from Sezanne against Bliicher, he 
did not show himself equal to his great reputation. 

On the 7th February began the concentration of the 
various corps of the Grand Army at Troyes, the object 
of which, conformably to the opinion of the Emperor 
Alexander, was to resume the offensive in conjunction 
with the army of Silesia, provided Bliicher, whose 
troops had been scattered by defeats, were able to join 
in good time. All doubt on that head soon vanished ; 
for an aide-de-camp having been sent to him to ask if 
he could bring up 30,000 men to Troyes on the 10th 
or 11th, in order to take part in a general engagement, 
received this answer, “ Say that I shall be at Mery 
before that time with 50,000 men and 300 pieces of 
cannon.” In fact, during his stay of five days at 
Chalons, he reorganized his beaten army with incredi¬ 
ble expedition, and having reinforced it with the Rus¬ 
sian and Prussian troops which had arrived from the 
Rhine, reached Mery on the banks of the Seine on the 
9th February, and closed up to the right wing of the 
Grand Army. On leaving Chalons he had sent the 
following report to the Emperor Alexander:—“ Ge¬ 
neral Vlodek has handed me the order of your Imperial 
Majesty. I have already put my army in motion in 


158 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

conformity to the enclosed disposition, and I count 
myself happy in having been able to comply with your 
order. On the 8th February I shall reach Sezanne 
with 51,000 men, and shall then wait for further orders 
from your Majesty. General Wintzengerode remains 
on the Paris road. I present a report of the reinforce¬ 
ments now on their way to join him.” 

With respect to the corps of General Wintzengerode 
which the Field Marshal notices in his report, it re¬ 
mained on the right bank of the Marne at Reims, in 
hourly expectation of being joined by the troops of 
Counts Stroganof and Worontzoff. What were the 
Emperor’s intentions with reference to this corps, may 
be seen from the following Imperial rescript transmitted 
to General Wintzengerode, two days before the ar¬ 
rival of the Silesian army at Mery: u We shall be 
joined, in a short time by Bliicher, who is on his march 
through Arcis and Mery, and then we shall attack the 
enemy with a superiority of force, which must oblige 
him to retreat. It is therefore my wish that you should, 
along with the corps of Counts Worontzoff and Stro¬ 
ganof, who are now following you, advance with all 
speed on Paris, either by the Soissons or the Meaux 
road, as you may think best. I suppose the Duke of 
Weimar and General Billow are at no great distance 
from you. If they can join you, you will act in con¬ 
cert ; if not, they must reinforce you according to cir¬ 
cumstances. If the Crown Prince of Sweden should 
have arrived, you will show him this order, and be 
guided in executing it by whatever commands he may 
give you.” 

Napoleon was a simple spectator of the junction of 
the Grand and Silesian armies. As if fatigued by the 


POSITION OF NAPOLEON. 


159 


weight of his exploits between the Seine and the 
Marne, he pursued the Grand Army with little vigour, 
and scattered his advanced-guards in different direc¬ 
tions, thus putting it out of their power to act with 
success. He spent several days at Nogent, where he 
chiefly employed himself in making a new distribution 
of the troops, and in revising certain plans of opera¬ 
tions which he had traced in the beginning of the 
campaign for the army of Marshal Augereau then at 
Lyons, and opposed to General Bubna, who afterwards 
retreated to Geneva. Napoleon thought the time was 
now come for that army to decide the fate of the cam¬ 
paign, by acting on the communications of the Allies. 
With this view he ordered Marshal Augereau to move 
up the Saone, to drive the Austrian detachments out 
of that district, and penetrating into the mountainous 
country of the Vosges, to act on our rear by falling 
upon the baggage, hospitals and detached parties, and 
by arming the inhabitants in mass, to threaten the line 
of retreat of the Allies. 

While despatching these orders to Lyons, Napoleon 
reckoned that his army in that quarter would be 
speedily reinforced by troops, which by previous ar¬ 
rangements were to arrive from Italy; for as yet he 
did not know that in that country very unpleasant 
changes had taken place. Murat, the King of Naples, 
who till then had been his only ally, had declared war 
against him, and concluded with Austria a treaty offen¬ 
sive and defensive, by which he bound himself con¬ 
jointly with the troops of that power to act against the 
French army then in Lombardy. This circumstance 
put it altogether out of the power of the Viceroy of 
Italy, who commanded the French troops in that coun- 


160 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


try, to detach any part of his army to the assistance of 
Marshal Augereau ; and thus all Napoleon’s combina¬ 
tions, so far as connected with this army, necessarily 
fell to the ground. Besides, Augereau, in whom as 
his old partner in the victories of Areoli and Castig- 
lione, Napoleon placed peculiar confidence, did 
nothing to justify it, his operations in this campaign 
having been slow and unskilful. 

Never doubting that his orders would be executed 
in the South, Napoleon already indulged the hope of 
a favourable termination of the war. From Nogent 
he wrote a letter to the Emperor of Austria in which 
he offered instantly to make peace on the conditions 
proposed by the Allies at Frankfort, that is, that the 
Rhine, the Alps and the Pyrenees should be the boun¬ 
daries of France. He said he would on no account 
whatever restore Belgium and Antwerp, nor agree to 
the cessions demanded at Chatillon which he called 
frightful (affreuses.) He assured the Emperor that his 
army was much stronger than the Allies imagined. 
To prove this, he requested that Prince Schwarzenberg, 
Count Bubna or Prince Metternich might be sent to 
inspect his troops, affirming that he had still the means 
of fighting several battles before the Allies could enter 
Paris. “ Even if Paris should fall,” said he, “ France 
will never endure the yoke laid upon her by England : 
despair will quadruple the force of the nation.” 

In this letter, which was dictated by himself, and the 
style of which bears no resemblance to that of diploma¬ 
tic communications between crowned heads, we evi¬ 
dently see his anxious desire to break up the alliance 
by concluding a separate treaty with Austria. Ac¬ 
cording to Napoleon’s words, the interest of the cabinet 


THE FRENCH ARMY LEAVE TROYES. 


161 


of Vienna and the re-establishment of the balance of 
power were inseparably linked with the terms of peace 
proposed at Frankfort, and with the condition of France 
remaining a powerful maritime state. While exhaust¬ 
ing every expression of respect for the Emperor 
Francis, he spoke of Russia and England in the 
language of irreconcileable hatred. He several times 
alluded to the Emperor Alexander in terms of bitter 
animosity, and accused him of acting against him from 
motives of personal malignity. “ Alexander’s revenge,” 
said he, “ is groundless. Before entering Moscow I 
offered him peace ; and in Moscow, I used every ex¬ 
ertion to extinguish the fire which had been kindled by 
his orders.” 

The Emperor Francis, at the end of six days, an¬ 
swered Napoleon that the Allies, inflexible in their 
resolutions, were ready to put an end to the war ; but 
that a peace based on the balance of power must be a 
general one in the widest sense; and that it depended 
on Napoleon to put an end to the calamities of 
Europe, by agreeing to the conditions of Chatillon. 
Firm to his friendship with Alexander, he repelled 
the accusation which Napoleon had directed against 
His Majesty. “ The noble sentiments, ” he writes, 

“ of the Emperor of Russia are well known to Your 
Majesty, and you must be conscious that no thought 
of revenge could influence his actions.” 

Before receiving an answer so contrary to his wishes 
and perhaps to his hopes, the French army had left 
Troyes. The order of march was in three columns, of 
which the right took the direction of Sens, the centre 
that of Pavilion, and the left that of Romilly. The 
last received an order to take possession on the march 


M 


162 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


of the town and bridge of Mery, which Napoleon could 
not leave in the hands of the Allies with safety to his 
rear. It was likewise his intention to establish his 
head-quarters in Mery. But that little town was al¬ 
ready occupied by a corps of the Silesian army under 
the command of Prince Stcherbatof, who had orders to 
destroy the bridge and to defend the passage, and that 
part of Mery which lies on the right bank of the Seine. 
His advanced line being on the left bank at the mo¬ 
ment the French attacked it, a fire broke out in the 
town, and quickly enveloped the whole buildings in 
flames. The skirmishers being ordered to cross the 
river, the French attempted to follow them along the 
beams of the broken and burning bridge, but were 
immediately driven back. On the following day they 
renewed their attempt to establish themselves on the 
right bank, but with as little success as before. The 
obstinate defence of Mery attracted the notice of Na¬ 
poleon. He gave orders to find out by what troops 
the post was occupied, and could hardly believe, when 
it was reported to him, that they were the Russians of 
the army of Bliicher whom he had all along supposed 
to be at Chalons. 

Prince Schwarzenberg being desirous to discover the 
real amount of Napoleon’s troops, twice made a recon- 
noissance from Troyes, for which operation compli¬ 
cated dispositions were made by his staff. The second 
of these brought on a somewhat heavy cannonade. The 
Emperor Alexander, on hearing it, rode down the 
Seine to the village of Les Grez ; but the firing soon 
ceased, and the enemy, without being molested, took 
up a position between Pony and Les Grez, in sight of 
the Grand Army, which lay with its right wing at 


RETREAT OF SCHWARZENBERG. 163 

Mongu6, and the left in the direction of Villacerf. 
Preparations for battle were made on both sides, but 
not with an equal desire to engage. Although the 
Allies were superior to the French in numbers, Napo¬ 
leon resolved to attack them, and waited impatiently for 
the concentration of his forces. He counted on gain¬ 
ing a victory, notwithstanding the Silesian army was 
on his left wing, for he knew it must take twenty-four 
hours to cross the Seine, in the course of which he 
thought he should have time enough to dispose of the 
Grand Army, in whose rear were the populous town of 
Troyes, the Seine, and the defiles beyond it; ob¬ 
stacles which in the event of the loss of a battle, must 
make the retreat somewhat difficult. Besides, Napo¬ 
leon had no time to lose in taking advantage of the 
moral influence of the successes he had obtained 
during the two preceding weeks. These successes 
had emboldened his troops and inspired them with their 
former self-confidence, while they produced an oppo¬ 
site effect on the greater part of the Allies, a circum¬ 
stance which could not be unknown to Napoleon. He 
had even seen many of the German troops of the 
allied army marching from Trenelle to Troyes in a 
state of a/ complete dispersion and disorder as if they 
had sustained a defeat which left them no hope of 
safety. This discouragement affected even their com¬ 
manders, who were still farther alarmed by unfavour¬ 
able news from the theatre of war in the south. 
Under these circumstances, Prince Schwarzenberg on 
the 11th February, suddenly gave an order to retreat 
from Troyes, and to cross over to the right bank of 
the Seine. The motives which led the commander-in¬ 
chief to resolve on a retreat, will be found in the fol- 
m 2 


164 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


lowing short extract, which forms the beginning of one of 
the daily reports in which he informed the allied mon- 
archs of the occurrences of the preceding day and of 
his intended operations : “ It would appear that the 
enemy is resolved to attack us. I do not intend fight¬ 
ing with defiles in my rear, and I shall therefore to¬ 
morrow take up a position behind Troyes.” 

It did not escape the penetration of the commander- 
in-chief that this reason was unsatisfactory, and that 
his retreat must increase the general discontent which 
had begun to be expressed against him; for his con¬ 
duct during the preceding fortnight had lost him the 
confidence and respect of the troops. He was openly 
blamed for not pursuing the French after the battle of 
Brienne, for not marching to Bliicher’s aid, for sacri¬ 
ficing the corps which lay unconnected on the right 
bank of the Seine, and afterwards, for causing his 
army to retreat as if he had sustained a defeat, without 
engaging an enemy inferior to him in force. This 
general feeling of dissatisfaction at length became so 
strong, that on reaching Vandoeuvres, the Prince found 
himself under the necessity of writing a secret order to 
the commanders of corps, in which he enlarged on the 
necessity of retreat, and desired them to exert them¬ 
selves to influence the general opinion, by leading 
those under their command to regard the measure in 
that light. 

The retreat continued during the whole night of the 
11th. Napolean did not press hard upon us, and con¬ 
fined himself to an insignificant affair with the rear¬ 
guard. On the following day, the allied Sovereigns, 
who had remained at Troyes, went to the King of 
Prussia, and held a council, at which several generals 


PROPOSALS FOR AN ARMISTICE. 


165 


and ministers were present. In giving their opinions 
on the state of affairs, some of the Allies endeavoured 
to paint it in the blackest possible colours. “ The 
Grand Army,” said they, “ has lost the half of its 
numbers by the sword, disease, and wet weather. The 
country we are now in is ruined; the sources of our 
supplies are dried up, and all around us the inhabitants 
are ready to raise the standard of insurrection. The 
loss of a battle, in such circumstances, would draw 
after it a retreat to the Rhine, where, in all probability, 
we should be met by the army of Marshal Augereau, 
whose troops are now organized and have been joined 
by reinforcements from the Spanish frontier. He has 
40,000 men under arms, whom he has already put in 
motion. One-half of his army has occupied Chambery 
and forced Count Bubna to retire to Geneva, and with 
the other half he is marching to Macon on his way to 
Franche Сопйё to act in the rear of the Grand Army. 
In all events,” continued the advocates for peace, 
“ we should first secure a way to retreat by, wait for 
the arrival of reinforcements from Germany, and arrest 
the progress of the French in the south.” As the 
majority of voices in the council was on the side of 
those who were against resuming the offensive, as had 
been proposed by Alexander at Trenelle, it was con¬ 
sidered the best policy they could adopt, to offer 
Napoleon an armistice ; and for this purpose one of 
Prince Schwarzenberg’s aide-de-camps was now sent 
to him. 

Napoleon received the aide-de-camp in the hamlet of 
Chatres almost within view of Bliicher, who was then 
at Mery. As was his custom, he entered into a long 
conversation with him, and at length asked him “ if it 


166 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN PRANCE. 

were true that the object of the Allies had changed, 
and that they now aimed at pulling him from his throne 
to make way for the Bourbons ?” The aide-de-camp, 
who knew nothing of the intentions of the allied mon- 
archs, could only answer in the negative. Towards 
evening he was dismissed from the French camp with 
the following haughty letter from Marshal Berthier to 
Prince Schwarzenberg. “ The assurances given by 
Your Highness of its being the wish of Austria to 
bring about a general pacification, have induced the 
Emperor to accede to your proposal. The commis¬ 
sioners may meet between Troyes and Vaudoeuvres to 
agree about the cessation of hostilities. I request you 
to inform me of the names of the commissioners, and 
of the place and hour at which they are to assemble 
to-morrow.” 

The plenipotentiaries appointed to conclude the ar¬ 
mistice, were General Count Shuvaloff for Russia, 
Duca for Austria, and Rauch for Prussia; Lusigny 
was the place fixed on for the conference. 

Count Shuvsiloff was furnished with the following 
order, signed by the Emperor at Vaudoeuvres, on the 
12th February :—“ Having consented to an armistice 
between the Allied Powers, and the French Emperor, 
I have made choice of you to conclude it. You will 
therefore set off for Lusigny where you will receive 
full powers and instructions from Prince Schwarzen¬ 
berg. The principal condition is, that the issues of 
the Vosges shall remain in our hands. If the river 
Aube cannot be the line of demarcation, the next best 
for the Grand Army is the Marne as far as Chalons, 
and for the army of Silesia from Chalons along the 
course of the Vele till it falls into the Aisne, and 


PRINCIPLES OF ALEXANDER. 


167 


then the course of the Aisne till it join the Oise, where 
the line of demarcation ends. With respect to the 
army of Italy and the Duke of Wellington you will 
receive instructions on the first head from Prince 
Schwarzenberg, and on the second you will receive a 
separate order to-day.” 

While the conferences for the armistice were going 
on, Napoleon, contrary to the wish of the Austrians, 
did not agree to suspend his operations. This was in 
perfect accordance with Alexander’s opinion, who had 
early penetrated the intention of the Allies to enter 
into correspondence with the enemy; and therefore, on 
the very day of his arrival at Trenelle, that is, on the 
8th February, ordered the head of his staff, Prince 
Volkonsky, to write the following instructions to Ge¬ 
neral Wintzengerode: “ If the enemy should inform 
you of a suspension of hostilities, or even of the con¬ 
clusion of a peace, it is thy Emperor’s will that you 
pay no attention to such information, and that you 
continue your advance till you receive a special order 
from his Majesty.” 

This was not the first occasion on which the Emperor 
Alexander showed himself true to those principles which 
neither good fortune nor bad could shake. After the 
battle of Brienne, when everything seemed to favour 
the Allies, they unanimously expressed their desire to 
make peace, while the Emperor insisted on the ne¬ 
cessity of prolonging the war : and now when the 
campaign assumed an unfavourable aspect, he retained 
his opinion unchanged. Of this we are able to give 
the best evidence, from a conversation at Troyes, 
between his Majesty and Lord Castlereagh, which was 
committed to writing, on the day on which it took 


168 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


place, by General Toll, who overheard it. The British 
Minister, while passing ^in review the recent military 
operations, and the disadvantageous position of the 
Allies, gave the Emperor to understand how necessary 
it was to think of peace, before we should be obliged 
to re-cross the Rhine ; and added, “ I have orders to 
take advantage of every occasion for making peace, 
which is now the more necessary that I see the coalition 
is on the eve of dissolution.” The Emperor with 
firmness replied: “ My Lord, it will not be a peace, 
it will be a truce, which will only make you lay aside 
your arms for the moment. I cannot fly to your aid, 
having four hundred leagues to march with my armies. 
I will not make peace so long as Napoleon is on the 
throne.” But, without saying more of the foreign 
cabinets, who murmured at the inflexibility of Alex¬ 
ander, we must not forget that, especially about this 
time, peace had become the favourite subject of con¬ 
versation in the army, and even among the confidential 
persons who were with the Emperor ; for the truth of 
which I may appeal to the testimony of Prince 
Volkonsky, and of Counts Toll and Nesselrode. 
That peace was not made, and Europe sacrificed to 
the ambition of Napoleon, we have to thank the 
Emperor Alexander alone, who saw farther and clearer 
into futurity than the foreign diplomatists who ac¬ 
companied the armies. After Napoleon had been 
pulled down, and his power annihilated, there were not 
wanting those, who, on their triumphant return from 
Paris, attributed to themselves the glory, which they 
still enjoy, of vanquishing the common enemy, and 
re-establishing the balance of power. But, without 
Alexander, that is, if their opinion in favour of putting 


TROYES RETAKEN. 


169 


an end to the war had prevailed, what would have 
become of the balance of power, and the present great 
name of these statesmen ? Should we not again have 
seen them, as in former days, in the anti-chambers of 
the Tuileries, standing, with all humility, in the 
presence of him whose will was a law to them ? Never 
was the Emperor Alexander so great as at two epochs 
of his reign, which will shed a never fading glory over 
his deathless name, and serve as an instructive lesson 
to posterity. The first was when he made a vow not to 
throw away the sword till the enemy were driven out of 
Russia, and rejected, with disdain, Napoleon’s offers from 
Moscow:—the second, when in France, after the victories 
of Napoleon, he refused to listen to the general voice, 
and steadily rejected a peace, demanded by a short¬ 
sighted policy, which never reflected that such a peace 
must prove the source of endless woes to Europe. 

In a few hours after the Emperor had left Troyes, 
the French army came up to the town and demanded 
its surrender, but received a refusal from the Austrian 
General, who had been ordered to keep possession of 
it till the Grand Army should have accomplished the 
passage of the Seine. The French opened a fire on 
the town, and mounted to the assault, but were re¬ 
pulsed. Napoleon, who came up to the troops in the 
evening, did not renew the attack ; probably, from 
a wish to save the inhabitants from the horrors of an 
assault: he took up his quarters for the night in the 
suburbs. At daybreak the Austrians evacuated the 
town, and the French entered it. Immediately on his 
arrival, Napoleon ordered those of the inhabitants to 
be shot, who, on the first entrance of the Allies into 
Troyes, had mounted the white cockade, as a mark of 


ПО RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

their attachment to the Bourbons. This measure of 
severity can hardly be called a prudent one; and was, 
in my opinion prejudicial, with reference to the highest 
political considerations. The punishment of these 
royalists awaked in France the sleeping memory of her 
former kings, and of the orders and badges of the old 
reigning family, thus bringing a new danger, and a 
new enemy upon Napoleon. From Troyes the French 
marched partly by Chatillon, and partly by Vaudoeuvres 
in pursuit of the Grand Army, which, on that day, 
concentred at Bar-sur-Aube. The Emperor Alex¬ 
ander, too, arrived there, but in no agreeable mood ; 
for there never had appeared so great a difference 
of opinion among the Allies on the subject of war and 
politics, as at this very time. In order to put an end to 
it, and to adopt decided and unanimous measures, his 
Majesty was pleased to call a council of war for the 
following day. This had become the more indispen¬ 
sable that it was necessary to reconcile the diametrically 
opposite opinions of the two commanders-in-chief, 
Prince Schwarzenberg and Bliicher. The former 
maintained that the armies must retreat, while the 
latter insisted that they ought to advance. 

In explanation of this circumstance, it is necessary 
to state that on the retreat from Troyes, Bliicher re¬ 
ceived from the Austrian head quarters a plan of 
operations, according to which he was to retreat from 
the Seine, on the right wing of the Grand Army, and 
along with it. It would be impossible to paint his dis¬ 
pleasure at this arrangement. In the first burst of his 
anger, he spoke openly of bribery and treachery, 
saying, that he had been invited from Chalons on the 
false pretext of taking part in a battle at Troyes; but, 


BLUCHER’S PLAN. 


171 


in reality, with the view of doing away the possibility 
of vanquishing Napoleon. In short, he declared that on 
no account whatever would he retreat along with Prince 
Schwarzenberg, but would separate from him, in order 
to march once more on Paris, and thus compel Na¬ 
poleon to give up the pursuit of the Grand Army, and 
again turn his forces against that of Silesia. He in¬ 
stantly sent to inform the Emperor Alexander of his 
purpose. His Majesty approved of it; but ordered 
the Field Marshal to be told that he must previously 
give the details of his plan. 

Having received the Emperor’s verbal consent to 
his march on Paris, Bliicher presented to his Majesty, 
on half a sheet of torn paper, the following note, 
which is the more curious, as being written with his 
own hand, contrary to his custom. This latter cir¬ 
cumstance, of itself insignificant, shows to what a 
degree his mighty heart was filled with resolution, and 
that to no one, save the Emperor, would he confide 
his secret feelings. “ Colonel Grolman,” he thus 
writes, “ has brought me word, that it is intended 
that the Grand Army shall make a retrograde move¬ 
ment. I think it my duty to lay before your Imperial 
Majesty the hurtful consequences which must result 
from it. 

“ 1. The whole French nation will take up arms; 
and the French who have declared themselves for the 
good cause, will suffer. 

“ 2. Our victorious armies will lose heart. 

“ 3. We are retreating into a country where there 
is no prospect of supplies, and where the inhabitants, 
being forced to give up their last morsel, will be 
reduced to despair. 


172 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


“ 4. The Emperor of the French will recover from 
the consternation into which he has been thrown by 
our successes, and will, as before, recover the con¬ 
fidence of the nation. Most heartily do I thank your 
Majesty for the permission you have given me to 
resume the offensive. I flatter myself with the hope 
of success, if your Majesty will give positive orders to 
Generals Wintzengerode and Billow to place them¬ 
selves under my command. Joined by them, I will 
march on Paris, fearing neither Napoleon nor his 
Marshals, if they should come to meet me. Your 
Majesty will allow me to conclude with the assurance 
that I shall count myself happy, with the army under 
my command, to execute your orders, and comply with 
your wishes.” 

These are lines which ought to be preserved as a 
faithful testimony of the firmness and fearlessness of 
Bliicher, who was now burning with the desire of 
fighting, single-handed, with Napoleon. Here he 
appears, in the fullest sense, an independent warrior, 
inspired by the grand idea which gave a new turn to 
the war. On this occasion we may compare him to 
the experienced steersman, who, on perceiving a shoal, 
or sunken rock, by a rapid movement of the helm, 
gives a new direction to the vessel, and saves her from 
destruction. But his resolution would have remained 
but a happy inspiration, a good wish, a mere vision, 
and no more, if the monarch, who was the soul of the 
coalition, had not appreciated it, and given it a real 
existence. 

Having paid the due tribute of admiration to the 
heroic resolution of the warrior, let us turn with grateful 
remembrance to Alexander. In the midst of hopeless 


RESOLUTIONS OF THE COUNCIL. 


173 


discouragement, he counted for nothing the tempo¬ 
rary triumph of Napoleon, spurned the pusillanimous 
idea of a general retreat, the end of which no man 
could see, and allowed Bliicher to march on Paris. 

On the 13th February, being the day after the Em¬ 
peror’s arrival from Vaudceuvres at Bar-sur-Aube, at 
eight o’clock in the morning, the Allied Sovereigns 
assembled at a house occupied by General Knesebeck, 
who, from illness, was unable to leave his apartment 
to attend the Council elsewhere. Besides their Ma¬ 
jesties, there were present the following persons : Prince 
Volkonsky, Baron Diebitch, Count Nesselrode, Princes 
Schwarzenberg and Metternich, Count Radetsky, Lord 
Castlereagh, and Prince Hardenberg. At this council 
the following resolutions were adopted :— 

“ If the Grand Army should be pursued by the 
enemy, it shall retreat to Langres, and there, uniting 
with the Austrian reserves, accept the combat, or 
begin to act on the offensive. 

“ The army of Silesia shall march to the Marne, 
be there joined by the corps of Generals Wintzen- 
gerode, Biilow, and Count Worontzoff, after which it 
shall advance to Paris. 

“ To form an army in the South, and immediately 
send thither the first Austrian corps, Bianchi’s division 
of the reserve, the Imperial troops in Dijon, and the 
6th corps of the German Princes. To place all these 
corps under the command of the Hereditary Prince of 
Hesse Hombourg with orders for him to march on 
Macon against Marshal Augereau, to drive him back 
and clear the line of our communications. 

“ The Duke of Weimar to remain for the present 
in the Netherlands, and the Crown Prince of Sweden 


174 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


at Liege, in order to keep up the blockade of the 
fortresses, and to support the army of Silesia if it 
should be obliged to retreat. 

“ The Grand Army to act at first on the defensive, 
while У the armies on its flanks, viz. the armies of 
Silesia and the South, shall begin the offensive with 
the utmost vigour, and according to circumstances, 
shall be re-inforced by the Grand Army, or in case of 
failure, may retreat on it.” 

“ To continue the negociations at Chatillon, and to 
instruct the commissioners at Lusigny to sign an 
armistice only in the event of the enemy yielding up to 
the Allies the lines of the Rhone and the Saone.” 

In the outset of the discussion, opinions were not 
alike. The majority of those who were present at the 
Council maintained, that it would be most advan¬ 
tageous for both armies to retreat. This opinion the 
Emperor Alexander decidedly opposed, saying, that 
situated as we were, he should not hesitate to separate 
from the Grand Army with the Russian troops, that is, 
the guards, the grenadiers, and Count Witgenstein’s 
corps, and along with Bliicher march on Paris. “ I 
hope,” he added, turning to the King of Prussia, “ that 
your Majesty too, like a faithful ally, of whose friend¬ 
ship I have had many proofs, will not refuse to ac¬ 
company me.” The King answered in the affirma¬ 
tive, adding that he had long ago placed his troops at 
the Emperor’s disposal. “ But why should you leave 
me behind you?” said the Emperor Francis. Thus 
the mutually friendly feelings of the monarchs were the 
cause of the unanimous measures agreed on at Bar- 
sur-Aube. 

While the Council was engaged in discussion, the 


ALEXANDER AT CHAUMONT. 


175 


Emperor Alexander took up a pencil, and noted down 
the substance of the articles relating to the army of 
Silesia. The original of this note must be among the 
papers of the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, or in 
the possession of Prince Metternich, who desired to 
keep it as a memorial. The following is a faithful 
translation of it:— 

“ 1. Not to give battle at Bar-sur-Aube. 

“ 2. Blucher to act separately. 

“ 3. The Grand Army to continue its movement 
through Chaumont and Langres as long as circum¬ 
stances shall make it necessary. 

“4. To inform Bllicher of this movement of the 
Grand Army, and that Wintzengerode and Biilow 
have been ordered to place themselves under his 
command. 

“ 5. To give orders to this effect to Wintzengerode 
and Blucher. 

“ 6. To authorize Blucher to act according to his 
discretion, on the sole condition of observing certain 
rules of military prudence : (pourvu seulement qu'une 
certaine prudence militaire soil observee .)”* 

When the sitting was over, the Emperor wrote a 
letter to the Crown Prince of Sweden, and dispatched 
orders to Field Marshal Bliicher, the Duke of 
Weimar, and Generals Wintzengerode and Biilow, 
signed with his own hand, and conformable to the re¬ 
solutions adopted by the Council of War. His Ma¬ 
jesty then set out for Chaumont, where he passed a 
fortnight. 

* In the Russian original, the words in italics are in the French 
language, in which the note was doubtless written by the Emperor.—T r. 


176 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


CHAPTER IX. 


Blucher crosses the Aube —Battle at Bar-sur-Aube—Position of the 
French and Allied Armies—Defeat of the French—Count Witgenstein 
wounded—Council of War at Bar-sur-Aube—Treaty of Chaumont — 
Rupture of the Conference at Lusigny—Advance of the Grand Army. 


The two armies now separated, as they had done after 
the battle of Brienne; that of Silesia advancing in the 
direction of the Marne, and the Grand Army retiring 
towards Langres. Without halting at Vaudceuvres, 
the latter crossed to the right bank of the Aube, and 
drew off by the Chaumont road. It was followed by 
the two corps of Marshals Oudinot and Macdonald, 
the former taking the road of Bar-sur-Aube, the latter 
that of Bar-sur-Seine, and Chatillon. Arcis, Plancy, 
and Nogent were occupied by the enemy’s detach¬ 
ments ; Marmont lay at Sezanne, and Mortier between 
the Marne and the Aisne. Napoleon remained with 
the Guard at Troyes, where he probably waited to 
watch the motions of Blucher who was still at Mery. 

At ten о clock in the morning of the day following 
the retreat from Bar-sur-Aube, the King of Prussia, 
who was at Colombey-les^glises received intelligence 
from Marshal Blucher by an express, that he had safely 
crossed the Aube at Anglure and Baudemont, and that 
only a part of the French troops was following the 
Grand Army by Vandoeuvres and Bar-sur-Seine, while 


OUDINOT OCCUPIES BAR-SUR-AUBE. 177 

the remainder was concentring at Mery, apparently 
with the intention of following the army of Silesia. 
At the same time the commander of the rear-guard of 
the Grand Army, Count Witgenstein, arrived at 
Colombey-les^glises. On hearing that the King of 
Prussia was in the town, he waited on His Majesty, 
and reported that the rear-guard was hardly followed 
by any-body, from which he concluded that Napoleon 
had turned round on Blucher, in whose favour it would 
be necessaiy to make a diversion, as otherwise the 
army of Silesia might be exposed to a defeat. As 
Prince Schwarzenberg was at Colombey, His Majesty 
communicated to him the news he had received from 
Blucher, and likewise repeated what he had heard 
from Witgenstein. Upon this the Commander-in- 
chief sent orders for all the corps to halt, with the ex¬ 
ception of the reserves, which were already beyond 
Chaumont and advancing rapidly on Langres, in con¬ 
sequence of information received by Count Barclay 
who commanded them, that the enemy after occu¬ 
pying Chatillon, appeared to be marching towards 
Langres. 

On this day it was Prince Schwarzenberg’s desire to 
make a general movement in advance, and he had 
ordered Counts Witgenstein and Wr6de to Bar-sur- 
Aube, and Count Giulay to La Fert6-sur-Aube; but 
this could not be accomplished, as the infantry of the 
two latter was already, agreeably to former orders, be¬ 
yond Chateau-Vilain, and could not reach the ground 
before five o’clock in the afternoon. In the meantime 
Marshal Oudinot occupied Bar-sur-Aube, and his 
troops even attempted to advance beyond the town, 
but they were checked by the batteries of Count 

N 


178 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE, 


\Ѵгё(1ё. This General having learned, that on the 
following day the Commander-in-chief intended to 
make a movement in advance, was desirous of re-taking 
Bar-sur-Aube which he had evacuated but twenty-four 
hours before. The Bavarians therefore forced their 
way into the town, but they were unable to keep it: 
the suburbs, however, remained in their hands. 

At day-break, on the 15th February, Count Wit- 
genstein marched from Colombey-les^glises to Bar- 
sur-Aube, in front of which was posted the corps of 
Wrede. The King of Prussia too, and Prince Schwar- 
zenberg were already on the spot. The Commander- 
in-chief had not yet come to a resolution as to the 
mode of attack. His first idea was to place the Ba¬ 
varians in the first line, with orders to drive the French 
out of Bar-sur-Aube, and to be supported by Count 
Witgenstein. The latter, however, on seeing that 
40,000 allied troops were crammed into a narrow 
valley, while certain hills to the right, by which the 
enemy might turn us, were not occupied, suggested 
that it would be more advantageous to take possession 
of these hills, and from thence act on the left wing of 
the French. Prince Schwarzenberg having commu¬ 
nicated this plan to Count Wrede, the Bavarian Gene¬ 
ral approved of it, adding, however, that his troops, 
from the exhausted state of both men and horses, were 
unable to carry it into execution. Hearing this, 
Count Witgenstein requested leave from Prince 
Schwarzenberg to set off thither with his corps, and 
having obtained it, ascended, by ravines and through 
vineyards, the hill called Malepines, where he found 
the corps of Oudinot and Сёга^ so disposed as to 
cover the bridge over the Aube at Dolancourt. Their 


AFFAIR AT DOLANCOURT. 179 

right wing was posted at Bar-sur-Aube, and their left 
at the wood of L^vigny. 

The troops of Count Witgenstein consisted of two 
corps of infantry; the first, Prince Gortchakof’s, and 
the second, Prince Eugene of Wirtemberg’s, and the 
cavalry of Count Pahlen. He ordered the fjrst corps 
to fall on the French, in front; and the second to turn 
them from the right through Levigny and Ar^onval, 
making for Dolancourt, with the view of cutting off 
their retreat by that bridge. This was as late as two 
о clock in the afternoon ; for much time had been spent 
in consultation, before the troops could ascend the 
hills. Having, at length, gained the summit, they 
advanced in the given direction; but when Count 
Witgenstein, who was in person with the first corps, 
had got beyond Arentieres, he saw that the French 
were in full advance against him, and that cavalry was 
crossing to their assistance from the left bank of the 
Aube. As he had almost no cavalry with him (having 
sent what he had with Count Pahlen, to make the 
detour of which we have spoken), he despatched an 
order for the Count to return, being afraid lest his 
centre should be pierced, by which the troops sent to 
Levigny and Dolancourt might be cut off. Count 
Pahlen sent back the Aide-de-camp, who had brought 
him this order, to request the commander of the corps 
to recal it, as he hoped speedily to reach the passage 
at Dolancourt, and to stand on the enemy’s commu¬ 
nications ; but, having received a second and peremp¬ 
tory order, he was obliged to obey. In the mean time, 
the affair became general along the whole line; and 
Count Witgenstein requested reinforcements from 
Prince Schwarzenberg, who had remained in the valley 
N 2 


180 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


with Count Wrede. The French, however, soon halted 
for two reasons : first, because a division of the corps 
of Prince Eugene of Wirtemberg had issued from the 
wood of L6vigny, opposite to the extremity of their 
left wing ; and secondly, because Count Wrede, at this 
moment,^made an attack on Bar-sur-Aube, which he 
had delayed, waiting for news of the success of the 
Russian troops. 

The Bavarians and Austrians met with great oppo¬ 
sition in the town. The French troops, aided by the 
inhabitants, occupied the houses, and fired from the 
windows. At last, however, the turning of the left 
wing, the attack on the town, and the position of the 
French, forced Marshal Oudinot to think of a retreat 
beyond the Aube. By his movements, Count Wit- 
genstein quickly saw that his drift was to gain time till 
the dusk should enable him to retire in safety. He 
therefore sent off Count Pahlen (who, in obedience to 
orders, had returned from Ar^onval) again to turn the 
enemy, and gain the passage of Dolancourt ; but our 
cavalry, owing to the hilly roads, did not arrive till the 
enemy had crossed the river. Thus these troops, 
having been kept marching and countermarching the 
whole day, took no part in the affair. The infantry, 
too, was unable to pursue the enemy with vigour, 
owing to the nature of the ground, and passed the 
night on the field of battle. Count Pahlen remained 
in possession of the bridge at Dolancourt, by which 
the enemy had retreated without losing either colours 
or guns. Count Witgenstein was wounded, but re¬ 
mained, notwithstanding, with his corps. Count Wi^de 
on this occasion was promoted to the rank of Field 
Marshal. The loss of the Russians, in killed and 


COUNT WITGENSTEIN RETIRES. 


181 


wounded, amounted to 1,200, and Count Wr£d6’s to 
about 300 men. 

The King of Prussia remained till the evening 
with the troops of Count Witgenstein, and decorated 
with the crosses of his orders several of our com¬ 
manders of regiments and battalions. The foot 
regiment of Kaluga especially attracted the notice of 
His Majesty. The Austrian General, who had been 
sent at Count Witgenstein’s desire to reinforce him, 
arrived when the affair was over, and, presenting himself 
to the King, requested his orders. His Majesty 
answered, that, as the Russians had already beaten 
the French, and were pursuing them, he would only 
advise him to support them. This did not prevent the 
Austrians from publishing, in their relation of the 
battle, that the General in question, had a share in the 
victory. Yet it is hardly worth while to notice this 
trifling circumstance, of which several examples have 
occurred in the course of our wars beyond the frontiers. 
Count Witgenstein, by reason of his wound, could not 
remain any longer with the army. In the course of a 
few days, the Emperor’s permission to retire was re¬ 
ceived by our celebrated General, who, from the year 
1812, had taken so brilliant a part in the war. But 
another month, and the saviour of St. Petersburg 
would have witnessed the taking of Paris! His place 
was taken by Raiefsky, who commanded the grenadier 
corps, which was now given to Count Lambert. 

Before leaving the army, Count Witgenstein had the 
satisfaction of receiving the following rescript from the 
King of Prussia. “ In the battle of Bar-sur-Aube, I 
have again had occasion to witness the bravery of the 
Russian troops, and of that ability in commanding 


182 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

them, which does you, my dear General, so much 
honour. The contents of your letter were the more 
unexpected by me, as I share in the Emperor’s opinion 
of your merits, and of the excellent conduct of the 
troops who were under your command in this en¬ 
gagement ; and am able to give you this tranquillizing 
assurance, that His Majesty is as fully sensible of them 
as I am.” 

The combat at Bar-sur-Aube, for which we were 
indebted to the pressing instances of the King of 
Prussia, and the dispositions of Count Witgenstein, 
was important, not so much from the loss which it 
caused to the enemy, but because it saved, as it were, 
the honour of the Grand Army; which, from the day 
of the battle of Brienne, had been in a state of com¬ 
plete inaction, and put a stop to the retreat on Langres, 
and, perhaps, to the Rhine. But even after this success, 
Prince Schwarzenberg did not bring the corps over the 
Aube, but posted them on the right bank, and sent the 
advanced-guard alone after Marshal Oudinot. He 
pursued the enemy very tardily, for reasons explained 
in the following letter, written by his order on the day 
after the battle, to Prince Volkonsky, by Count Ra- 
detsky, the head of his staff: “ Information received 
from some of yesterday’s prisoners, and especially from 
Major General Seslavin, that Napoleon is marching 
in the direction of Dijon, has prevented the commander- 
in-chief from pursuing the enemy with that rapidity, 
with which we should have followed him, had he been 
firmly persuaded that Napoleon had marched after 
Bliicher. Add to this, that as the troops are ex¬ 
ceedingly fatigued, it would be dangerous, before we 
procure certain intelligence of the enemy’s motions, 


REPORTS OF NAPOLEON AT DIJON. 


183 


to make them advance into a district where no supplies 
can be procured; for, if the news of Napoleon’s 
march on Dijon should be confirmed, we should be 
obliged to make a countermarch. For these reasons, 
the Field Marshal has sent the cavalry, reinforced by 
some detachments of infantry, after the French. To¬ 
day, the Prince of Wirtemberg attacks Bar-sur-Seine, 
and from the result of this affair we shall gain infor¬ 
mation of the enemy’s movements. In the meantime, 
the guards and the reserves will, remain at Chaumont 
and Langres, from whence they will be able to reinforce 
the army in either of two cases, that is, whether it shall 
advance, or take the direction of Dijon.” 

From Prince Schwarzenberg’s letter, we see that he 
had not taken advantage of the victory, for two reasons: 
first, because he attached credit to the report of Na¬ 
poleon’s movement on Dijon ; and, secondly, from an 
anticipated deficiency in the supplies, and the lassitude 
of the troops. That partizans and prisoners should 
mistake, is not wonderful, ; this occurs every day in 
time of war ; but it is strange, indeed, that the com¬ 
mander-in-chief should have been led by them to 
believe it possible that Napoleon would resolve on an 
enterprise which must have led him away from Paris, 
and have thrown the capital, and the greater part of 
France, into the hands of the Allies. If he had really 
been on his way to Dijon, Bliicher, by keeping close 
up to him, must, in a short time, have joined the Grand 
Army, and then the allied forces, being almost double 
the number of the enemy, would have driven him 
towards Lyons, and cut him off from Paris, which, being 
without defence, would have been obliged to surrender 
to our troops, who were on the right bank of the Marne, 


184 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


and who would have lost no time in advancing to the 
capital. The Prince’s second reason is certainly a 
very important element in military calculations ; but it 
should not be an obstacle, any more than fatigue, to a 
vigorous pursuit of a beaten enemy: victors know 
neither lassitude nor hunger. 

On the day of the battle at Bar-sur-Aube, the Here¬ 
ditary Prince of Wirtemberg and Count Giulay had 
been ordered to attack La Fe^-sur-Aube, and from 
thence to march to Bar-sur- Seine. On the 16th 
February they had a warm affair on the banks of the 
Aube, which they crossed, and after some opposition 
occupied Bar-sur-Seine. Their movements were such 
as we generally see when two commanders of corps are 
acting together, independently of each other. The 
Austrians and Wirtembergers, on the pretext of bad 
roads and fatigue, lagged and loitered on the march. 

In general, about this time, the whole operations of 
the Grand Army bear an impress of irresolution, which 
is to be explained by the conflicting opinions of the 
Cabinets; and this discordance was reflected in the 
arrangements of the Commander-in-chief. The 
measures decided upon in the council of war, at Bar- 
sur-Aube, outwardly reconciled the opinions of the 
Allied Cabinets; but, in point of fact, did not satisfy 
their mutual demands and secret wishes. The Austrians 
found the retreat from Troyes to Langres indispensable, 
and wanted to stand on the defensive, till they should 
see how Bliicher’s enterprise on the Marne would ter¬ 
minate ; while the Emperor Alexander maintained 
that it would be better to march, without delay, on 
Napoleon’s rear. The Austrians had their eyes con¬ 
tinually turned to the army of the south at Lyons, 


GENERAL TETTENBORN. 


185 


which was destined to secure not only our communi¬ 
cations with Switzerland and Germany, but what was 
to them more important, and, to a certain degree, their 
object in the war, to aid in the conquest of Italy ; 
while Alexander insisted that their true object was the 
overthrow of Napoleon, and that no attention should 
be paid to accessaries till that should be realized. The 
Austrians did not desire the downfall of Napoleon: 
on the contrary, they wished to keep him on the throne; 
but with the frontiers of 1792 ; and, for that reason, 
were now purposely slow in their operations, in order 
to give him time to reflect, and to convince himself 
that it was only by accepting the conditions of Cha- 
tillon that he could prolong his political existence. 

The retreat of the French from Bar-sur-Aube, La 
Ferte-sur-Aube and Bar-sur-Seine did not lead Prince 
Schwarzenberg to conclude that Napoleon was no 
longer before him, and had probably set off after 
Bliicher; and his doubts were not put an end to, till 
Napoleon’s march was reported to him by General 
Tettenborn, who with a detachment of some regiments 
of Cossacks had just at that time arrived in France. 
As we shall have several times occasion to speak of 
this partizan in the sequel, it is necessary to explain 
how he now came to be between the Seine and the 
Marne. Having been under the command of the 
Crown Prince of Sweden in the campaign against 
Denmark, he was ordered by His Royal Highness, at 
the conclusion of peace with that power, to march to 
France, with instructions to keep up the communica¬ 
tions between Bliicher and the corps of Billow and 
Wintzengerode belonging to the army of the North. 
In the beginning of February he crossed the Rhine at 


186 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Cologne, made his way successfully through the line of 
the French fortresses, and arrived on the 13th Feb¬ 
ruary at Reims, where he found Baron Wintzengerode. 
From him he could learn nothing more than that the 
allied armies and Napoleon were in the neighbourhood 
of Troyes. From Reims he went on to Epernay, then 
occupied by General Benkendorf, who on the very day 
of his arrival received intelligence of Blucher being on 
his march from Mery to Meaux. This induced Tet- 
tenborn to advance straight to . the Aube, and not to 
halt till he should fall in with the enemy ; for he justly 
reckoned that Napoleon would turn his attention to the 
movement of the Silesian army, and certainly follow it. 
He proved right in his conjecture, for in the plains 
around Fere-Champenoise he came in sight of the deep 
columns which Napoleon was leading to the Marne. 
He instantly sent off couriers to Prince Schwarzenberg 
and Blucher with this intelligence, and allowing the 
French army to pass by his detachment, followed it up 
without losing sight of it for a moment, thus doing 
the true service of a partizan, which consists in furnish¬ 
ing faithful intelligence of the enemy’s motions. 

On setting out after Blucher, Napoleon left Marshal 
Macdonald in command of the troops opposed to the 
Grand Army, with orders to manoeuvre in such a way 
as to check its advance as much as possible, and to 
conceal his absence. Macdonald being unable to 
defend the passage of the Aube, began to concentrate 
his troops around Troyes by marching to that town 
from Bar-sur-Seine, as did Marshal Oudinot from 
Vaudoeuvres. The latter took up a position in advance 
of Troyes, at the village of Lobressel, near the little 
river Barse. At last Prince Schwarzenberg put his 


RETREAT OF LOBRESSEL. 


187 


army in motion on the 18th February, that is, three 
days after the successful combat at Bar-sur-Aube, and 
marched in the direction of Troyes. The troops ad¬ 
vanced in three columns : the corps of Count Witgen- 
stein on Piney; that of Count Wred6 on Vaudoeuvres; 
and those of the Hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg and 
Count Giulay on Bar-sur- Seine : the reserves re¬ 
mained at Chaumont and Langres. We must here 
remark that the principal forces of the Austrians having 
been detached and sent to Lyons agreeably to the 
resolution of the council of war, there remained only 
one of their corps in the Grand Army, to wit, that of 
Count Giulay, who was now joined by a few Austrian 
battalions of reserve which were not previously under his 
orders. The Prince of Hesse Homburg had been ap¬ 
pointed commander-in-chief of the Austrian army of 
the South. 

On the 19th February it was resolved to attack the 
enemy’s position at Lobressel. Prince Gortchakof, 
acting commander of the corps of Count Witgenstein, 
was ordered with the mass of his troops to turn the 
enemy’s left wing, and Count Wrede to attack in front. 
By one o’clock the Russians were in order of battle 
waiting till the signal gun should be fired in the corps 
of Count Wrede. At three o’clock the signal was 
given, and the troops moved on ; Prince Gortchakof 
marching straight on Lobressel, and Prince Eugene of 
Wirtemberg round the enemy’s left flank. Both were 
in close column with artillery in front, and the third 
division of cuirassiers in rear. The French had hardly 
time to fire a few cannon-shots, when, seeing that 
• Prince Eugene was in the act of turning them, they 
began to retreat, pursued by the cuirassiers, who rode 


188 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


down two battalions, and took three guns. The 
enemy retired under the walls of Troyes, and their 
rear-guard formed in the suburbs called St. Parre. 
On the following day at ten o’clock in the morning, 
Prince Eugene approached their position, but the 
French, without waiting to be attacked, retreated into 
the town from whence they sent to request eight hours 
to evacuate it. As the Prince would not give more 
than half an hour, the enemy lost no time in leaving 
Troyes, which was immediately occupied by the Allies, 
who marching through it by the opposite barrier, con¬ 
tinued to follow the two Marshals. The French deli¬ 
berately retired, and on the 26th February crossed over 
to the right bank of the Seine, where they took up a 
position at Provins. 

Prince Schwarzenberg, with his usual tardiness, sent 
troops in pursuit of the enemy by the same roads by 
which they had advanced after the battle of Brienne, 
Raiefsky’s corps taking possession of Nogent, Count 
Wred6’s of Bray, and the Hereditary Prince of Wir- 
temberg’s and Count Giulay’s of Sens.—In these cir¬ 
cumstances the Field Marshal did not undertake any 
thing ; justifying his inaction by saying that he desired 
to remain true to the system approved of in the council 
of war at Bar-sur-Aube, by which it was determined 
that the armies of the South and of Silesia should act 
on the offensive, and that the Grand Army should in 
the meantime remain on the defensive. 

If we consider the discordant opinions now reigning 
in the Grand Army on the subject of military opera¬ 
tions, and the scruples of Prince Schwarzenberg, and 
take into account that the consequences of Bliicher’s 
daring attempt on Paris were unknown, the position of 


TREATY OF CHAUMONT. 


189 


the Allies must appear in the highest degree unfavour¬ 
able, and the more so, that the hostile disposition of 
the people was daily showing itself in acts of open war¬ 
fare both in flank and rear. In another point of view, 
affairs had taken a turn so favourable as to give un¬ 
doubted promise of success ; for the cabinets had at 
length become sensible that their force consisted in 
unity of will. They had begun to see that difference 
of opinion had been productive of momentary defeat, 
while harmony could not fail to triumph over Napo¬ 
leon, as the events of 1813 had proved beyond the 
possibility of contradiction. This conviction was the 
exciting cause which gave birth to a treaty concluded 
at Chaumont on the 17th February, by which Russia, 
Prussia, Austria and England became bound, in the 
event of Napoleon not accepting the conditions of 
Chatillon, by every means in their power to continue 
the war for the attainment of a peace, which should 
guarantee the inviolability of the rights and indepen¬ 
dence of nations. In furtherance of this end, each of 
the four Powers engaged to keep 150,000 men in the 
field ; and on no account separately to make terms 
with the common enemy. It was further resolved that 
this treaty, whose object was to restore the balance of 
power and to place an effectual barrier to the arbitrary 
invasion of the rights and territories of independent 
states, should remain in force for twenty years. 

Such was one of the most important diplomatic acts 
of modern times, and one which raised an insurmount¬ 
able wall of defence against Napoleon and the French 
revolution. If it should be asked, why we associate 
Napoleon’s name with the idea of revolution, we have 
to answer, that he, like all the rulers of France who 


190 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


have sat, one after the other, during a period of forty 
years on the throne of the Bourbons, was, with relation 
to Europe, merely the temporary representative of the 
revolution, the instrument and defender of its per¬ 
nicious principles, which tend to shake the lawful sove¬ 
reignty of hereditary monarchs, a sovereignty which 
offers the chief, indeed, the only security for the tran¬ 
quillity and welfare of nations. The treaty of Chau- 
mont bridled Napoleon’s passion for conquest and 
domination beyond the boundaries of France, and im¬ 
posed on him the necessity of conforming his actions 
to the order of things existing in Europe. On the 
other hand, it infused mutual confidence into the con¬ 
tracting parties, and so fortified their union, that if 
faithfuly observed, it might bid defiance to all Napo¬ 
leon’s efforts. It is a coincidence which we cannot 
here pass by in silence^ that the oldest of the allied 
monarchs who signed the treaty, the Emperor Francis, 
died on the very day after the lapse of the twenty years’ 
term of the treaty of Chaumont. 

The immediate effects of this treaty were quickly 
visible on the congress of Chatillon, and in the confer¬ 
ence at Lusigny. With regard to the former, we left 
it at the moment when the Allied Sovereigns, on the 
3d February, dispatched orders to their plenipoten¬ 
tiaries to sign the peace on the conditions resolved on 
at Langres. On the 5th February a rough draft of 
the conditions of peace was presented to Caulaincourt, 
with an intimation that this was to be considered as an 
answer to his letter to Prince Metternich, requesting 
an armistice, to which the monarchs had not consented. 
The French Minister listened in silence, and when the 
project was read over, asked unofficially, and as it were 


TERMS OF THE ARMISTICE. 


191 


merely out of curiosity, about the future destiny of the 
Allies of France, such as the' Kings of Saxony and 
Westphalia, and the Viceroy of Italy ; he added that he 
would lay this project before his court. It was presented 
to Napoleon while he was intoxicated with his successes 
between Seine and the Marne, and thus it is not difficult 
to conceive the indignation with which he rejected the 
terms offered by it. “ I am nearer to Vienna than the 
Allies are to Paris,” said he, and in place of a definite 
answer, ordered Caulaincourt to spin out the negocia- 
tions as long as possible. Such was the state of the 
affairs of the congress when the treaty of Chaumont 
was concluded. As soon as it was signed, the circle 
of Popilius was drawn around Caulaincourt; for he 
was told that within ten days he must give an answer 
to the project of peace, and that if he did not, the con¬ 
gress would be considered as closed. 

The same conduct was observed towards General 
Flahaut. As a supplement to the instructions with 
which Count Shuvalof had been furnished on his de¬ 
parture for Lusigny, the Emperor ordered him per¬ 
emptorily to insist, that during the armistice the allied 
troops should keep possession of Belgium, Reims, 
Chalons, Vitry, St. Dizier, Chaumont, Langres, and 
Dijon. There could be no doubt that this would be 
opposed by General Flahaut, who, at his first meeting 
with Count Shuvalof, gave him to understand that 
Napoleon was disposed to conclude the armistice only 
from a conviction that peace would be concluded on 
the terms offered at Frankfort. It followed that Na¬ 
poleon would not place the half of his Empire in the 
hands of the Allies, while he calculated on having the 
Rhine, the Alps, and the Pyrenees for his frontiers. In 


192 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


the course of a few days, when our troops had ceased 
to retreat, and Blucher had set off for the Marne, 
Napoleon justly concluded that the Allies had cooled 
in their wishes for peace, and that they were about to 
resume the offensive. He then desired a proposal to 
be made for a suspension of hostilities during the con¬ 
ference, but Count Shuvalof, agreeably to the instruc¬ 
tions of the Emperor, said to the plenipotentiary: 
“ Why should we now have recourse to a measure 
which you formerly reckoned inexpedient ?” Finally, 
after the treaty of Chaumont was signed, it was inti¬ 
mated to General Flahaut that he must, within twenty- 
four hours, accept the conditions offered to him by the 
Allies. He refused to do so, and thus ended the con¬ 
ferences at Lusigny, at which the views and intentions 
of both parties, that is, of Alexander and Napoleon, 
were too widely at variance to allow of any hope of 
accommodation. 

The only question now remaining to be resolved 
was, whether Napoleon would accept the conditions of 
Chatillon; but being in full march after Blucher, he 
could only think of one object,—how to crush him. In 
the following chapter we shall give an account of their 
struggle; but previously we must follow the Grand 
Army, and explain what took place in it during 
Alexander’s stay at Chaumont. 

Prince Schwarzenberg did not avail himself of 
Napoleon’s movement against the Silesian army by 
taking decided measures, for which he enjoyed many 
favourable opportunities. Having 90,000 men under 
arms he might have routed Macdonald, who had not 
more than 30,000; or, leaving a corps of observation 
against him, have followed Napoleon with the rest of 


CONDUCT OF SCHWARZENBERG. 


193 


his troops. If either of these operations appeared to 
be attended with too great a risk, he had it in his 
power to move towards the Marne to take possession 
of the bridges, and there wait for Napoleon ; thus 
keeping as near Bliicher as he could. It would be 
vain to reply that while he was making this movement, 
Augereau might have threatened the communications 
of the Grand Army, for the Marshal was now opposed 
by 50,000 Austrians, who were sufficiently strong to 
put such an attempt out of the question. Not one of 
these plans was adopted by Prince Schwarzenberg, 
who, with that fondness for reconnoissances, peculiar 
to irresolute generals, confined himself to frequent 
surveys of the position occupied by Macdonald be¬ 
tween Nogent and Provins. His whole attention was 
directed to Blucher’s motions and those of the 
Austrian army of the South. For this reason, though 
the corps of the main body of the Grand Army were 
posted at Nogent, Bray, and Sens, the reserves of 
Count Barclay were kept at Chaumont; for the Field 
Marshal was still afraid of an attempt from Lyons on 
our rear, which these reserves were destined to oppose. 

The Emperor Alexander, who remained at Chau¬ 
mont till the 1st of March, never ceased pressing 
Prince Schwarzenberg to be more active, and Prince 
Volkonsky communicated to him His Majesty’s plea¬ 
sure that the reserves should approach nearer to the 
army, and that the latter should take a new direction. 
It is worthy of especial notice, that at this time, that is, 
a fortnight before the battle of Arcis, the Emperor 
directed the attention of the Commander-in-chief to 
that town, to which he had even resolved to transfer his 
own head-quarters. His Majesty had already foreseen 
о 


194 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


that if Napoleon, on terminating his expedition against 
Bliicher, should resolve to march against the Grand 
Army, his attack would be made, as it afterwards was 
made, from Arcis, because no other direction was so 
favourable to the French. For supposing that Napo¬ 
leon, as in the beginning of February, should again 
resolve to march against the Grand Army from 
Provins and Nangis, he could only, even in the event 
of success, force back the heads of the columns to a 
certain distance and no more, while, by issuing from 
Arcis, he would attack us both in flank and rear. 

We shall now give some extracts from Prince 
Volkonsky’s correspondence with Prince Schwarzen- 
berg, which will bear witness how clear, and how just, 
was the Emperor’s view of military events. On the 
24th February, Prince Volkonsky made the following 
communication to the Field Marshal:—“ The Em¬ 
peror considers that the advance of the Grand Army 
to Sens is drawing us away from the enemy, and that 
it is therefore indispensable to direct all our forces to 
the right towards Arcis, between that town and Vi try, 
and in all events to reinforce them with the reserves 
which should be ordered to move forward.” On 
the 27th February, three days after, he writes, “ In 
consequence of intelligence received from Field 
Marshal Bliicher, the Emperor considers it indispensa¬ 
ble to begin to move by the right wing between Arcis- 
sur-Aube and Vitry. It is His Majesty’s desire that 
you should lose no time in reporting your opinion on 
this important subject.” On the next day Prince 
Volkonsky wrote him as follows :—“ I hasten to com¬ 
municate to your Highness the reports received from 
Count St. Priest. His Majesty has charged me to 


CONDUCT OF SCHWARZENBERG. 


195 


inform you, that according to his opinion it is now 
more necessary than ever to act on the offensive.” 

In his answers, Prince Schwarzenberg only pre¬ 
sented various plans of movements which he intended 
making according to the information he should receive 
of the operations of Blucher and Napoleon. At 
length His Majesty himself wrote to him; and, from 
the Field Marshal’s answer, dated the 1st of March, 
we may form some idea of the contents of the Im¬ 
perial rescript, no copy of which is to be found among 
the papers, for this reason, probably, that the original 
was forwarded straight from the Emperor: “ I have the 
honour to report that the corps are continuing the 
movement which I ordered the day before yesterday, 
keeping to the right, and I think, I have made pre¬ 
paration for every movement which circumstances may 
render necessary. To-morrow I shall expect your 
Majesty’s arrival to receive your commmands. Your 
Majesty will allow me, with that sincerity to which you 
have long accustomed me, to express to you how pain¬ 
ful it is for me to see, by your letter, that ‘ hencefor¬ 
ward my hands will be completely unbound, and that I 
may act in conformity with military calculations! ’ 
Never, Sire, were my hands bound; I have always 
acted according to military combinations; I think I 
have manoeuvred well, and I should manoeuvre as I 
have done, were I to begin again ;—this is my confes¬ 
sion. It is my duty to state that if my arrangements 
have not met with the approbation of the monarchs, 1 
and my principles are alone to blame. How fortunate 
would Napoleon reckon himself if he could imagine 
that such doubts had found access to the monarchs at 
the very time they are accomplishing the mighty task 
о 2 


196 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


of the deliverance of Europe! I know, Sire, that in 
your magnanimity you will graciously receive these ex¬ 
planations which a frank-hearted soldier lays at your 
feet.” 

On the day after receiving this letter, the 2nd 
March, His Majesty, after a fortnight’s stay at Chau- 
mont, set out for Troyes, the head-quarters of Prince 
Schwarzenberg. Before his departure, an order was 
sent to the plenipotentiaries at the Congress, “ that if 
Caulaincourt should desire to know the ultimatum 
of the monarchs, they should answer, ‘ that it is stated 
in the project of the peace communicated to him, with 
the exception of trifling alterations, which, however, 
must not touch the substance of the project.’ If 
the ministers should declare that they reckon this 
Congress to be closed on the part of France, and if 
Caulaincourt shall request a delay till he receive the 
decision of the Court, you are to refuse and to answer 
that the negociations may be renewed, should Na¬ 
poleon make new proposals, at the head-quarters of 
the allied monarchs. The plenipotentiaries will add, 
that these proposals will be entertained if they be sent 
without delay, and be conformable to the project of 
the peace as minuted on the 5th February.” 

It now only remains to notice the last circumstance 
which occurred at this time; I allude to the arrival on 
the theatre of war of the Count d’Artois, who, with his 
two sons, had left England in the beginning of the 
year. The Duke of Angouleme made his way to the 
Duke of Wellington, the Duke of Berry arrived in the 
island of Jersey, and the Count d’Artois entered France 
through Holland and Switzerland. On reaching Ve- 
soul he immediately wrote to the Emperor, expressing 


THE DESIGNS OF ALEXANDER. 


197 


his wish to obtain a personal interview, “ having,” as 
he said, “ something to communicate of peculiar im¬ 
portance to the welfare of France, and the glory of 
the Emperor.” His Majesty answered him from 
Chaumont, “ that he could not comply with his wish,” 
and repeated what his Royal Highness had been told 
before leaving London, “ that the aim of all the ex¬ 
ertions of the monarchs is the conclusion of a durable 
peace; that their Majesties will take no part whatever 
in the internal changes which may take place in 
France, and consequently will neither encourage the 
expression of public opinion in favour of the Bourbons, 
nor thwart it.” 


198 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


CHAPTER X. 


Advance of the Army of Silesia to the Marne—Marmont retreats—Bliicher 
crosses the Marne at Meaux — Bliicher 1 s retreat toSoissons—Capitulation 
of Soissons—The Russians cross the Aisne—Napoleon orders the people 
to take up arms—Defence of Soissons—Success of Count Worontzoff — 
Battle of Craonne—Death of Generals Lanskoy and Ooshakof—Of 
Count Stroganoff—Affair at Laon. 


Field Marshal Blucher having received the Em¬ 
peror Alexander’s consent to his march on Paris by 
the Marne, immediately moved off with his army from 
the environs of Mery, his object, as we have seen, 
being to draw Napoleon away from the Grand Army. 
We are now to show how far he succeeded in his 
attempt, and to trace the march of the army of Silesia 
during this campaign of a fortnight. 

On starting from Mery, Bliicher’s army consisted of 
the corps of Sacken, York, and Kleist, amounting to 
50,000 men under arms. In addition to these, the 
Emperor having placed at his disposal the two corps of 
Wintzengerode and Biilow, belonging to the army of 
the North, Blucher ordered the former not to stir from 
Rheims, and the latter to march through Dammartin 
on Paris. At the same time he sent the following in¬ 
structions to Count St. Priest, who had just arrived at 
Vitry from the Rhine. “ As soon as Napoleon hears 
of my march, he will either send a corps down the 


BLUCHER’S INSTRUCTIONS TO ST. PRIEST. 199 

Seine for the defence of Paris, or follow me in person 
through Nogent and Provins ; or, in fine, will endeavour 
to cut off my communications with the Rhine, and 
raise the blockade of the fortresses. It is, therefore, 
my intention that you should halt at Vitry, with your 
division, and take under your command the Prussian 
General Jagow’s detachment of 6,000 men, and at the 
same time stop all the small parties which are 
coming on from different places, and attach them 
to your corps. With these forces you are to assure 
my communications with the Grand Army, watch the 
passages of Arcis, Lesmont, and Dienville, and to 
keep up your connexion with me through Epernay and 
Reims, by means of the corps of Wintzengerode. If 
Napoleon should follow the Silesian army, or detach a 
corps to Paris, you are to join me, by forced marches, 
through Chalons, Reims, and Fismes. It is also my 
desire that you everywhere give out that you have from 
20,000 to 30,000 men under your command, and that 
you issue a proclamation to the people, stating that 
you have come among them, with so great a force, in 
order to preserve peace and tranquillity ; but that you 
will burn every town and village in which insurrection 
shall break out. At the same time, you will advise 
the French not to give credit to the lying reports 
spread abroad by Napoleon of his successes, and assure 
them that the object of our movements has been to 
draw him on to Troyes, in order that the Silesian army, 
which he pretends to have destroyed, may advance 
without interruption to Paris.” 

Count St. Priest having laid a copy of these in¬ 
structions before the Emperor, His Majesty was pleased 
to confirm them, and to order, with the view of more 


200 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


effectually securing the communications between the 
Grand Army and that of Silesia, that Count Platof’s 
detachment should be removed to Arcis, and placed 
under the command of Kaissarof. The Ataman him¬ 
self was invited to head quarters, where he remained 
till the end of the campaign. Kaissarof afterwards 
crossed from Arcis to S6zanne, and sent out parties to 
Fere-Champenoise and Reims, as the country around 
the latter was beginning to be the theatre of war. 

On the 13th February, Blucher crossed the Aube at 
Anglure, where he posted the Russian troops, under 
the command of Sacken, on his left wing, and the 
Prussians, under Kleist and York, on his right, and 
then advanced on S6zanne. Here he expected to beat 
Marmont, who, with a small corps of about 8,000 men, 
was almost in the same situation as Olsoofief had been 
in at Champaubert, being unexpectedly brought in 
contact with an enemy more than six times his superior 
in force. The difference between them consisted only 
in this, that Olsoofief had been ordered to keep his 
position, cost what it might, while Marmont, being 
bound by no such order, had a right to manoeuvre 
according to his discretion. Orders were given to the 
cavalry to turn the French on the following morning, 
keeping out of the range of their guns, and to watch 
for the favourable moment to attack. The infantry, 
in two columns, was to charge the French, if they 
showed any intention to keep their ground. Agreeably 
to this arrangement, the cavalry marched out of the 
camp in the morning, but it was merely to be spec¬ 
tators of Marmont’s retreat. It is supposed that the 
inhabitants had given him notice of the arrival of the 
army of Silesia, time enough for him to give it the 


BLUCHER ATTACKS MEAUX. 


201 


slip. Bliicher attributed this failure to the Generals 
in command of cavalry, who excused themselves by 
saying, that the orders were couched in general terms, 
without a positive indication of the time and place, 
when and where to attack. 

From Sezanne, Marmont did not retreat on Cou- 
lommiers and Meaux by the straight road to Paris, but 
turned off to La Ferte-sous-Jouarre, in order to get 
near Marshal Mortier, who, after the battle of Mont- 
mirail, had been left by Napoleon between Soissons 
and Chateau Thierry, to watch the allied troops, that 
had entered the north of France from the Netherlands. 
The two Marshals succeeded in effecting their junction 
at La Ferte-sous-Jouarre. Here again Bliicher was 
highly displeased with the Prussian General of his ad¬ 
vanced-guard, who, by not giving him timely notice of 
Mortier’s movement, had deprived him of the means 
of preventing it. 

On reaching the Marne, Bliicher made his arrange¬ 
ments for taking the town of Meaux, in order to 
advance straight from thence to Paris. To accomplish 
this, he tried to deceive Marmont and Mortier as to 
the nature of his intention ; and with this view, having 
split his army in two, he ordered the Prussians to 
repair the bridges which had been burned by the 
French at La Fe^-sous-Jouarre, to cross the Marne 
at that place, and to make a false attack on the 
Marshals; while the Russians, under the command of 
Sacken, were to take the town of Meaux. Sacken 
took possession of the suburbs on the left bank of the 
Marne, and made ready to attack the town itself. If 
it had been taken, Bliicher’s plan would have been 
crowned with success, for Mortier and Marmont would 


202 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


have been turned and driven away from the great Paris 
road; but they took care not to fall into the snare, 
and hastened to Meaux, where they arrived at the very 
time our troops were making an attack on the town. 
In consequence of the movements of the French, 
Sacken was ordered to give up his attempt on Meaux, 
to cross to the right bank of the Marne at La Fe^- 
sous-Jouarre, and close up to the Prussians : this he 
accomplished on the 17 th February. 

The roar of Sacken’s cannon, during the attack on 
Meaux, reached the suburbs of Paris, whose inhabi¬ 
tants listened for the first time to the distant sounds of 
hostile artillery : and that artillery was Russian, thun¬ 
dering at less than forty versts distance from the 
French capital. There the light-hearted people were 
still celebrating Napoleon’s successes over our rear¬ 
guards, and the retreat of the Allies from Troyes. 
The troops in reserve, the recruiting depots and skele¬ 
tons of regiments were immediately sent off to reinforce 
Mortier and Marmont who had taken up a position on 
the right bank of the Ourcq. While Bliicher was pre¬ 
paring to attack them, and his corps were endeavouring 
to cross that river at different places, he received from 
Tettenborn the important and joyful news that Napo¬ 
leon in consequence of the movement of the Silesian 
army from the Aube to the Marne, had given up fol¬ 
lowing the Grand Army, and was marching with all 
speed after him. Thus were fulfilled the hopes of the 
Prussian commander, and the end gained for which he 
had separated from the Grand Army. Putting off his 
attack on the French Marshals who were before him 
on the banks of the Ourcq, he marched on the 18th 
February to Oulchy on the Soissons road, having sent 


NAPOLEON CROSSES THE AISNE. 


203 


orders to Wintzengerode and Billow to advance to 
that place. 

It was only on the 15th February, that is two days 
after the event, that Napoleon was informed of the 
army of Silesia having broken up from Mery. Having 
entrusted Macdonald as we have seen, with the com¬ 
mand of the troops destined to watch the Grand Army, 
he instantly marched from Troyes with the remainder, 
in number about 40,000, and followed Bliicher through 
Arcis-sur-Aube and Sezanne. He kept constantly 
pressing the march of the columns, for every hour’s 
delay seemed to double his fear that Bliicher, after 
routing Marmont and Mortier, was already under the 
walls of Paris. Early on the morning of the 19th 
February, Napoleon arrived at La Ferte-sous-Jouarre, 
where, from the steep banks of the Marne, he could 
see the rear-guards of the Silesian army, slowly retiring 
in the direction of Soissons. Immediate pursuit was 
out of the question, for the Allies had broken down the 
bridges of the Marne. The French now set to work 
to repair them, and, by labouring without intermission, 
enabled the troops to begin crossing on the evening 
of the following day. 

Napoleon’s plan was to beat Bliicher before he 
could cross the Aisne. This appeared so much the 
easier that the main passage of that river is by the 
stone bridge of Soissons, which was again in the hands 
of the French, they having re-occupied that town im¬ 
mediately after General Wintzengerode left it for 
Reims. In order to effect his purpose, Napoleon or¬ 
dered Marmont and Mortier to follow Bliicher by the 
high road to Soissons, while he himself crossed at La 
Ferte-sous-Jouarre, and marched through Chateau 


204 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


ТЫёггу to Fismes. He chose this route for two rea¬ 
sons ; first, as it would enable him to cut off Bliicher’s 
retreat on Reims and his line of communication with 
the Grand Army, and secondly, because he could 
either fall on his left wing, or turn it. 

On retreating from the Ourcq, it was Bliicher’s in¬ 
tention to give battle at Oulchy, where he expected to 
be joined by Generals Wintzengerode and Biilow, 
whose corps amounted to 50,000 men. “ You have 
already been informed,” he thus wrote to the former 
on the 18th February, “ by our flying detachments, 
that I have gained my object, and that the Grand 
Army has been relieved of the enemy. That nothing 
may separate me from you and General Biilow, I have 
set out for Oulchy, and it is therefore necessary that 
you should unite your troops with mine before the 
battle, which it is my intention to offer. If you are 
not already between Fismes and Soissons, it is abso¬ 
lutely necessary that you make all haste thither, with 
your whole corps. Let me know where you are at 
present.” 

The Field Marshal’s intention of fighting at Oulchy 
could not be carried into effect, for Biilow was still on 
the right bank of the Aisne, which he found difficulty 
in crossing; the commandant of Soissons having re¬ 
fused to surrender the fortress. Bliicher thus found 
himself obliged to cross the Aisne, in order to put off’ 
fighting till he should effect his junction with Biilow. 
His ulterior views are unfolded in the following order 
to Wintzengerode on the 19th February. “ As 
Soissons does not surrender, I have resolved to give 
battle on the right bank of the Aisne, and with that 
view have sent on the baggage to Fismes, and the 


CAPITULATION OF SOISSONS. 


205 


pontoons to Busancy, in order to throw several bridges 
over that river. Towards evening I shall march to 
that place with the army and begin to cross in the 
night. I desire you will send officers to select the 
most convenient points for the passage, that I may be 
able to reach it from Villemontoir or Busancy, and 
from thence to form in position beyond the Aisne. 
You will then send to Busancy for the pontoons, and 
put up the bridges: at the same time you will let 
me have officers to lead the columns from Ville¬ 
montoir and Busancy, that no disorder may arise 
during the darkness of the night. In the course 
of the day you will pass the Aisne with your corps at 
Vailly and take up such a position near Soissons, as 
will prevent the garrison from troubling my march by 
sallies. The whole of my cavalry remains behind : it 
will cover the movements of the army, and cross the 
Aisne to-morrow morning. If possible, I should wish 
the bridge to be thrown over about Venizelle; but if 
there is likely to be any difficulty I can march on 
Vailly.” 

The situation of the Field Marshal with a river 
before him, on which bridges were not yet put up, was 
hourly becoming more difficult; for Marmont and 
Mortier were making continual attacks on his rear¬ 
guard, and Napoleon’s movement from Chateau 
Thierry to Fismes was threatening his flank. At this 
critical moment, the gates of Soissons were suddenly 
opened, an event which completely changed the face 
of affairs, enabling Bliicher to cross the Aisne by the 
stone-bridge, and unite with В blow. This saved the 
Silesian army, not from defeat, for Napoleon was two 
marches behind it, but certainly from heavy loss, 


206 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


during the passage of the Aisne in the presence of an 
enemy. 

The following are the particulars of this fortunate 
and unexpected incident. Generals Wintzengerode 
and Biilow, on arriving at Soissons, the former from 
Reims, and the latter from Laon, called for the sur¬ 
render of the town. The answer was a refusal, with 
an intimation from the commandant, that he would 
order the flag of truce to be fired on, if the demand 
should be repeated. There were eighteen guns on 
the rampart and 1500 Poles in the town, under the 
command of General Moreau. These troops, unequal 
to a prolonged defence, had been ordered to sustain an 
assault, and to defend themselves to the last drop of 
their blood, in order to give the French army time to 
fall on Bliicher’s rear-guard during the passage of the 
river. On receiving the unsatisfactory answer of the 
commandant of Soissons, Generals Biilow and Wint¬ 
zengerode did not make up their minds to storm the 
town. The former confined himself to firing a few 
cannon shots into the town, while the latter, with 
skirmishers, attacked a part of the suburbs which 
several times changed masters, but at last remained in 
our hands. This affair lasted till the evening, when, 
on account of the darkness, the troops evacuated the 
suburbs in order to pass the night in the plain. Here 
many could not help reflecting how gallantly Cher- 
nischeff had achieved the conquest of Soissons but a 
fortnight before, by forcing his way, with an insignifi¬ 
cant detachment, into a town of such importance in a 
stratagetical point of view, before which two numerous 
corps now stood hesitating to go up to the assault. 

About midnight, General Wintzengerode called a 


CAPITULATION OF SOISSONS. 


207 


council, at which it was resolved to attempt to storm 
the fortress on the following morning, but previously 
to try if it were not possible to induce the command¬ 
ant to surrender it. For this purpose, at one o’clock 
in the morning, Wintzengerode sent Colonel Lowen- 
stern to Soissons with full power to conclude a capitu¬ 
lation, leaving the conditions to his discretion; the 
grand object in view being to secure a safe passage of 
the Aisne. 

The Colonel immediately set off, but notwithstand¬ 
ing the signals of the trumpter who accompanied him, 
bullets whistled about his ears as he approached the 
enemy’s line of sentries. At last he reached a picket 
under the command of an officer who told him he had 
strict orders not to admit any flag of truce, nor receive 
letters for his superiors. The negociator wishing in 
some way or other to let the commandant know that 
he was at the advanced posts, begged the enemy’s 
officer to send into the town for some wine, on the 
pretext that as the night was very cold they would do 
well to warm themselves. The officer at once com¬ 
plied, without suspecting the intention of the Colonel 
Lowenstern, who was in hopes that the soldier sent for 
the wine, would let it be known in Soissons that there 
was a Russian officer at the advanced posts, and that 
the commandant might desire to learn the object of his 
visit. The trick succeeded, and an officer shortly 
made his appearance, who pretended to be visiting the 
posts, but in whom, from his uniform, it was not diffi¬ 
cult to recognize an aide-de-camp. Lowenstern began, 
among other things, by telling him that defence must 
be vain, as there were two corps before the town de¬ 
termined to mount to the assault before day-break. 


208 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


After some talk he pretended a wish to retire; but the 
aide-de-camp requested him to wait a little, saying he 
would announce his arrival to the commandant to 
whom he carried the‘letter from Baron Wintzengerode. 
He soon returned to say that the commandant had 
agreed to receive the Russian officer, who was now 
conducted into the town with his eyes bound. 

Finding the commandant in the midst of a council 
of war, Lowenstern announced that the destruction of 
the French was inevitable, as the garrison would be 
put to the sword and the inhabitants abandoned to the 
fury of the assailants. Having given the council only 
'ten minutes for reflection, the commandant at last 
agreed to surrender, on condition that the garrison 
should be allowed to join the French army with six 
pieces of cannon. After some feigned opposition on 
the latter head, consent was given, and it now only 
remained to draw up the articles of capitulation. 

At this moment word was brought to the command¬ 
ant that General Bulow had sent to the advanced 
posts Captain Martens, the same who was not long 
ago ambassador at Constantinople. Wishing to avail 
himself of this ready means of communicating his suc¬ 
cess to Biilow, Lowenstern requested the command¬ 
ant to admit the Prussian officer, and, on his arrival, 
invited him to sign the capitulation along with him. 
In order to see it carried into effect, Captain Martens 
and the Emperor’s aide-de-camp, Pancratief, remained 
in the town, and Colonel Lowenstern, having thus 
cleverly brought about the surrender of the fortress, 
returned to Count Wintzengerode who gladly ratified 
all the conditions. Somebody having remarked that 
it was wrong to allow the French to take more than 


RETREAT OF THE ARMY OF SILESIA. 209 

two guns along with them, it being unusual to give 
more to an enemy voluntarily evacuating a fortress, 
Count Worontzoff justly answered: “that in the 
present circumstances, the surrender of Soissons was 
of such importance, that it would even be allowable to 
make the French commandant a present of some of 
our own guns on the single condition of his evacuating 
the fortress on the instant,” 

Immediately after the ratification of the capitulation, 
Worontzoff in person led his troops to take possession 
of the city gates. At the very moment of relieving the 
French guard a cannonade was heard in Bliicher’s 
rear-guard, announcing the approach of the enemy, and 
proving that if Soissons had held out but one day 
longer, the army of Silesia would have been deprived 
of a safe and easy passage of the Aisne. The pusil¬ 
lanimity of General Moreau affords one proof more, 
that the strength of fortresses, with whatever skill and 
care they may have been constructed, does not depend 
so much on the works, as on the bravery of him to 
whom the defence is entrusted. Nothing sets this 
truth in a clearer point of view than the events which 
occurred in Prussia after the battle of Jena, when 
Magdeburg, Ciistrin and other strongholds, which had 
been placed under the command of feeble old men, or 
faint-hearted Generals, one after another, opened their 
gates without firing a shot. 

And thus for the second time during this campaign, 
the surrender of Soissons opened a safe retreat to the 
army of Silesia. Baron Wintzengerode now sent 
forward Major-General Benkendorfs division of ca¬ 
valry to meet Bliicher, whose rear-guard had for some 

p 


210 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


days successfully resisted the furious attacks of the 
French. 

Without delaying for a moment, Bliicher crossed on 
the 20th February to the right bank of the Aisne, 
where he was joined by Wintzengerode and Biilow. 
The corps of these two Generals presented an aspect 
very different indeed from those of the Silesian army. 
The latter, from the day they had crossed the Rhine, 
had been, almost without interruption, engaged in ob¬ 
stinate combats and forced marches. They had had 
no home but the bivouac, where they struggled 
with the inclemency of a cold and stormy winter. 
Both men and horses were exhausted, the uniforms and 
shoes worn out, and the commissaries’ waggons empty. 
The regiments of the army of the north, on the con¬ 
trary, who, in the preceding year under the command 
of the Crown Prince, had carried on a deliberate me¬ 
thodical war in a regular campaign, and, with the 
exception of General Chernisheff’s detachment, had 
not yet taken part in actual hostilities, but remained in 
comfortable cantonments, were complete as to number, 
and in the highest order in point of health, spirits and 
equipment. Add to this that they had brought with 
them an abundant supply of provisions. When these 
corps had joined Bliicher the number of his troops ex¬ 
ceeded a hundred thousand men, and he now resolved 
to accept the combat between Soissons and Laon. 
The left wing of his army nearly extended to 
Craone, and his right to Soissons, the defence of 
which was entrusted to General Rudzёvitch. To 
observe the motions of the enemy on the left bank of 
the Aisne, the Field Marshal sent General Chernish- 
eff’s detachment across the river with instructions to 


CHERNISHEFF RETIRES. 


211 


march to Braineand Fismes, and in case of necessity to 
retire to Vailly, where, in Bliicher’s order, there was 
said to be a bridge. 

As the army of Silesia hurried through Soissons, the 
troops, artillery and baggage blocked up the streets. 
In these circumstances, Chernisheff’s detachment could 
only pass in single file, so that it was with the greatest 
difficulty he made his way out of the town with his six 
regiments of Cossacks. He had sent two regiments of 
infantry which had been attached to him, straight to 
Vailly with the view of their afterwards rejoining him, 
for he never doubted the existence of the bridge men¬ 
tioned in his instructions. As soon as the half of his 
detachment had made its way through the army of 
Silesia and reached the left bank of the Aisne, he 
ordered Colonel Benkendorf to go on before, intending 
to follow him with the remaining three regiments. At 
Braine, Benkendorf fell in with the quarter-masters of 
Napoleon’s head-quarters, took them prisoners and 
went on to Fismes; but he was there attacked by a great 
body of the enemy’s horse. The superiority of the 
French made resistance out of the question, and Ben¬ 
kendorf hotly pursued, retreated in time. About half¬ 
way, he met Chernisheff, who immediately drew up his 
Cossacks in a long line. On seeing them the French 
gave up the pursuit, thinking no doubt that there were 
more troops behind the Cossacks. The quarter-mas¬ 
ters who had been taken prisoners, having unanimously 
declared that Napoleon was in the neighbourhood of 
Fismes, Chernisheff having executed Blucher’s order, 
had nothing for it but retire with all speed through 
Vailly, for it was now impossible for him to remain 
alone on the left bank of the Aisne, almost in sight of 

p 2 


212 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

Napoleon’s head-quarters, and separated by the rivei 
from the army of Silesia. But how great was his 
surprise when one of his men, whom he had sent to 
Vailly, returned with a report that there was no bridge 
there ! Planks were hurriedly laid, and rudely fastened 
together, and on these Chernisheff led all his six 
regiments of Cossacks across the river, and rejoined 
the army of Silesia. The operations we have now 
described form the first part of the campaign which 
Bliicher undertook from Mery. We shall now pro¬ 
ceed to the second, which proved beyond comparison 
the most bloody, and to the Russians the most fruitful 
in recollections of military glory. Here we shall see 
with what success Rudzevitch resisted the attacks of 
Marmont and Mortier, how Count Worontzoff fought 
with Napoleon for six hours together, and how Cher¬ 
nisheff routed Ney. 

Napoleon had hardly reached Fismes when he 
learned the fall of Soissons, which proved a death-blow 
to his hopes of attacking Bliicher before he should 
have passed the Aisne. This news even shook the 
nerves of the French troops who had purposely been 
buoyed up with the hope of surrounding the Russians 
and Prussians, and of forcing them to lay down their 
arms. In order to give the troops fresh confidence in 
his fortunes, and to excite them to undergo new hard¬ 
ships, Napoleon ordered it to be given out, that an 
unforeseen event, the disgraceful surrender of Soissons, 
had prevented the defeat of the Allies and the deliver¬ 
ance of France. The retreat of the army of Silesia, 
beyond the Aisne, was the more grievously felt by him, 
that it drew him away, he knew not. how far or how 
long, from Paris, and from the proper line of his 


DECREE OF NAPOLEON. 


213 


operations between the Seine and Marne. He was 
obliged, whatever it might cost, to fight with Blucher 
and to drive back, as far as possible, his indefatigable 
opponent, before he could turn his attention with effect 
to the Grand Army. Every day, every hour, was 
precious to him now that he was in continual expecta¬ 
tion of hearing that Schwarzenberg was acting on 
the offensive, or of seeing him appear in his rear; 
and yet Napoleon could not meet him, till he had 
disposed of Blucher, who, now that he had crossed the 
Aisne, could retreat farther and farther, towards the 
northern frontiers of France, and draw Napoleon’s 
army after him. 

Napoleon’s rage, on receiving the intelligence of 
Bliicher’s successful passage at Soissons, explains the 
motives which induced him to issue a decree by which 
the war was declared national. He required the 
French to arm in mass, and assist the troops in attack¬ 
ing and destroying the Allies, to break down the 
bridges behind them, fall upon the baggage and strag¬ 
glers, and on the flanks and rear of our armies; at the 
same time, denouncing the pains of treason against 
every magistrate of town or district, who should dis¬ 
suade the inhabitants from a general rising. Even 
from this decree we may see how implacable was 
Napoleon’s hatred to our countrymen ; for it is said 
that its chief object was to restrain the atrocities of the 
Russians and Cossacks. With his peculiar penetration 
Napoleon doubtless foresaw the approaching end of his 
career, and being unable to beat the Russians in the 
field, gave full scope to his vindictive feelings towards 
them as the chief, or rather the sole, authors of his 
fall. Having shaken his power to its foundations in 


214 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


1812, they had arrived in France to complete his 
ruin. 

In order still more to inflame the passions of the 
people, all the Parisian newspapers, then the trumpets 
of despotism, as they are now those of universal in¬ 
surrection, were filled with descriptions of the imaginary 
cruelties of the Russians. The fruitful imagination of 
the French writers was inexhaustible in calumny ; being 
stimulated by the gold which was liberally showered 
upon them by the government. To give their lying 
stories some appearance of truth, they printed them in 
the form of letters from the theatre of war. The ab¬ 
surdity of their inventions knew no bounds : a French¬ 
man, for instance, was made to say, that he had seen 
with his own eyes, on the shoulders of every Russian, 
a torch destined to set fire to Paris. 

The newspaper writers were equally unsparing of the 
Prussians, but of the Austrians hardly a word was said. 
They were more indulgent to the latter, because it was 
the anxious endeavour of Napoleon, during the whole 
course of the wars, to withdraw the court of Vienna 
from the general alliance. By this show of respect for 
that Court, he thought to make his subjects believe 
that his bonds of connection with Austria were not 
broken, though at bottom he was probably convinced 
that these bonds had no influence whatever on the lofty 
sentiments of the Emperor Francis. Posterity will 
acknowledge with gratitude the mighty act of self- 
denial of that virtuous monarch who refused to listen 
to the voice of a father’s heart, when the good of 
mankind was at stake. 

Having signed his decree for a general armament, 
which, however, the local authorities took no measures 


ТЫЕ FRENCH ATTACK SOISSONS. 


215 


to carry into execution, although the peasants took 
arms in great numbers, Napoleon passed twenty-four 
hours at Fismes, in order to concentrate his forces, and 
make arrangements for going on with the campaign. 
From Fismes he continued his advance to Berry-au-Bac 
with the intention of there crossing the Aisne, and 
falling upon Bliicher’s left wing. Marshals Marmont 
and Mortier were ordered at the same time to take 
Soissons, which Rudzevitch, as we have seen, had been 
left to defend. On the 21st February, at day-break, 
the patrols gave notice to Rudz6vitch that the enemy 
was approaching in deep columns by the road from 
Chateau-Thierry. He immediately ordered the ar¬ 
rangements for defence, which he had made the night 
before, to be carried into execution. The principal 
reserve of his corps stood behind the houses in those 
quarters of the suburbs which lay nearest the town; 
the second reserve was posted on the rampart, the 
sharpshooters were in the outskirts of the suburbs, and 
the artillery was placed at the different points where it 
was likely to do most execution. A part of the cavalry 
was left in the town to act in case of insurrection 
among the inhabitants ; the remainder took post on 
both sides of Soissons to report the movements of the 
enemy, and to watch the roads from Braine and Com- 
peigne. In case of retreat, the cavalry was ordered to 
concentrate on the Laon road at Crouy, and each de¬ 
tachment was provided beforehand with a guide. The 
Prefect’s house was cleared for the wounded, and the 
medical officers made all the usual preparations. 
Having put every thing in order, Rudz6vitch rode round 
the ranks, and reminded his men of what they owed to 


216 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


their Sovereign, and to the honour and glory of the 
Russian arms. 

At seven o’clock in the morning, Mortier and Mar- 
mont attacked the suburbs in their whole extent, but 
were beaten off; a second attempt was equally un¬ 
successful. In the beginning of the affair, they forced 
back our skirmishers so close to the reserves, that a 
very narrow space was left between the combatants. 
Every time the attack became more warm, Rudz6vitch 
appeared in the midst of the troops, when their fire 
instantly redoubled. In the suburbs, occupied by the 
French, the enemy unroofed many of the houses, 
hoisted up cannon to the top floor, and from thence 
fired on the Russians, who were posted on the ramparts; 
while below, an incessant fire of musketry was kept up 
at less than pistol-shot distance. The combat lasted 
till late in the evening; yet the Marshals, although 
their troops were double the number of those of Rud- 
zevitch, were unable to wrest a single house out of his 
hands, or to make him yield an inch of ground. At 
ten o’clock the cannonade ceased, and the French 
retreated to the extremity of the suburbs, where they 
posted their line of sentries. Thus the Russians, with 
the loss of 1,500 men, kept possession of Soissons, 
which the French had not been able to defend; for we 
have seen that in the month of February the town was 
twice taken, once by assault, and again by capitulation. 
We must not pass over in silence, that on the night 
before the assault, Count Langeron arrived at Soissons 
from the Rhine, and that on the day of the attack, he 
placed his troops at the disposal of Rudzevitch, offering 
to act under his subordinate officer, and afterwards 
took every occasion to exalt the merit of his exploit. 


NAPOLEON OCCUPIES CRAONE. 


217 


We shall now return to Bliicher, who had taken up 
a position between the Aisne and the little river Lette, 
on the elevated and very narrow plateau which extends 
on the one side, to the road from Berry-au-Bac to 
Laon ; and on the other, to the road leading to that 
town from Soissons. The six corps of the army of 
Silesia were placed one behind another; the first in 
order being Wintzengerode’s at Craone. Having 
posted his army in this strange position, where it could 
neither manoeuvre nor deploy, the Field Marshal 
removed his head quarters to Chavignon, and there 
waited for news. On the 21st February, he received 
a report that the French had forced Berry-au-Bac, 
beaten Generals Pahlen and Ilovaisky, and, having got 
possession of the passage, were advancing to Corbeny 
by the great road to Laon. He instantly resolved to 
leave his position by a movement in advance, and 
to descend into the plain at Craone in order to meet the 
enemy, and stop his advance to Laon. At two o’clock 
the following laconic order was sent round : “ The 
army will march to Craone. The corps in their 
present order of battle will follow one after the other. 
Advantage must be taken of the ground, to send 
powerful masses of cavalry and infantry to right and 
left along the road. If a battle should take place, the 
cavalry must be kept in great masses.” 

This disposition could not be carried into effect; for 
the army had hardly moved off its ground, when it 
was known that Napoleon had occupied Craone, and 
the woods and defiles around it, through which the 
army of Silesia must pass in order to attack him. 
The Field Marshal was now obliged to take measures 
for covering his new line of operations between Laon 


218 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


and Avesnes, and of keeping up his communications 
with the Netherlands. These considerations, however, 
were not sufficient to induce Bliicher to march with his 
army on Laon, for he reckoned that Napoleon would 
probably not march on that town till he had beaten 
our troops, who were behind Craone, and opposite 
to his left wing. He resolved to cover Laon with one 
division of his army, with a second to make head 
against Napoleon at Craone, and with a third to turn 
his right wing and get into his rear. 

The following were the arrangements made for carry¬ 
ing this complicated plan into execution: General 
В blow was sent off to defend Laon ; the corps of Sac- 
ken and the infantry of Wintzengerode, under the 
command of Counts Worontzoff and Stroganof, were 
charged with the defence of the position near Craone, 
and to withstand the attack of Napoleon’s whole forces, 
while Wintzengerode with the cavalry of the other corps, 
amounting to 10,000 men, and sixty guns, was ordered 
to cross the Lette at Chevregny, and by by-roads to 
reach Fetieux on the great Laon road and fall upon the 
right wing or the rear of the French. York was sent 
to take post on the road between Soissons and Laon, 
Rudzbvitch was ordered to keep possession of Soissons, 
and Kleist and the remainder of Langeron’s corps re¬ 
ceived orders to follow Wintzengerode, and according 
to circumstances, reinforce the attack of the cavalry or 
cover Laon. 

All these dispositions were made on the 23rd Feb¬ 
ruary, while the French army was advancing to Berry- 
au-Bac, and from thence to Corbeny: — from some 
soldiers of the French guard who had been taken pri¬ 
soners by the Cossacks, it was ascertained that Napo- 









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WORONTZOFF—SUCCESS AT HEURTBISE. 219 

leon in person was at the latter town. On the extremity 
of the left wing of the Silesian army, Count Worontzoff 
was posted near Craone, with orders to retreat to a 
position at Heurtbise, as soon as the enemy should 
begin the attack. At four o’clock in the afternoon two 
French divisions approached Craone which was occu¬ 
pied by Major General Krassoffsky with the 13th and 
14th regiments of light infantry. One of these divi¬ 
sions marched on the town and the wood to the left, 
and the other straight on Heurtbise, with the evident 
intention of cutting off the retreat of our advanced 
guard from Craone. While Count Worontzoff was 
defending himself, Count O’Rourke, who had volun¬ 
teered to take the command of the troops in Craone, 
retreated in good order. On this occasion, the 13th 
regiment of light infantry particularly distinguished 
itself. Its commander, Colonel Maeffsky charged ten 
times with the bayonet and lost 16 officers and 400 rank 
and file. The remaining officers, of whom hardly one 
had reached the age of twenty, took the places of their 
fallen comrades and fought with such valour against 
the old French guard, that from that day the 13th regi¬ 
ment of light infantry attracted that general admiration 
which it has never ceased to justify in the fullest man¬ 
ner. The enemy did not confine himself to an attack 
on Count W 7 orontzoff’s advanced guard, but poured 
troops into the wood near Heurtbise, in order to cut off 
Count O’Rourke, who was retreating to that village. 
The French who at first had been driven out of the 
wood, again became masters of it, and even occupied 
the road to Heurtbise. As it became necessary to make 
a decisive charge, Count Worontzoff led on the 14th 
light regiment and a brigade of infantry, and charging 


220 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


the enemy with the bayonet, cleared the wood which no 
attempt was afterwards made to retake. At the con¬ 
clusion of this affair, in which two Russian brigades beat 
off two divisions of the French guard, Count Woront- 
zoff posted his advanced line for the night in the wood 
near Heurtbise and led the remainder of the troops to a 
position on the road to Bray which had been fixed on 
beforehand. 

Some perhaps may be inclined to regard as ex¬ 
aggerated, the success obtained by our two brigades 
of the line over two divisions of Napoleon’s guard 
whose exploits have so often been the favourite subject 
of the pencil and the graver, and the theme of prose 
and verse ; but it is nevertheless a fact which cannot be 
disproved. It should be added however, that these two 
brigades were the flower of Count WorontzofPs corps, 
and consisted of the 13th and 14th light infantry, and 
of the Tula and Navaguinsky foot regiments, which 
had been formed out of old unattached grenadier bat¬ 
talions. 

In the course of the day General Biilow marched to 
Laon, and towards evening Baron Wintzengerode set 
out to make the circuit prescribed to him, to be followed 
by Count Langeron and Kleist. Napoleon halted at 
Corbeny for the night, waiting till he should see whe¬ 
ther Bliicher was going to retreat to Laon or to remain 
at Craone. Having ascertained that the Allies re¬ 
mained in their position at Craone, he resolved to 
attack them on the following morning. Here again 
the ground was occupied by the Russians alone, who 
were thus once more singlehanded to dispute it with 
him. Could Napoleon be otherwise than filled with 
rage against Alexander, now the only obstacle to the 


BATTLE OF CRAONE. 


221 


peace, and whose troops were everywhere the first to 
meet him in the field ! 

Few positions are better adapted for defence than the 
elevated plateau behind Craone. On the left of it 
flows the Lette between steep banks, and on the right 
are deep ravines; so that it is impossible to attack it, 
with a fair prospect of success, otherwise than in front. 
An attacking army, however strong, cannot avail itself 
of superiority of number by deploying its whole force. 
In this position, which had been chosen by Major Gene¬ 
ral Poncet, stood the Russians, with orders to keep 
Napoleon at bay, till General Wintzengerode with his 
ten thousand horse, supported by corps of infantry, 
should come upon his rear. 

Count Worontzoff drew up his troops in the following 
order. The 21st and 24th divisions and two brigades 
of infantry, composing his corps, were drawn up in two 
lines: the cavalry brigade of Major General Benken¬ 
dorf, consisting of the Pavlogradsky hussars and four 
regiments of Cossacks, was posted on the right flank, 
being the only spot on which horse could act, a circum¬ 
stance which had made it unnecessary to leave a greater 
body of mounted troops with this division of the army. 
The flanks were protected by the deep ravines of which 
we have spoken. 

In front of the position where the attack was expected, 
on a smooth but rather narrow piece of ground, thirty- 
six pieces of cannon, under the command of Colonel 
Vinspar, were so placed that the enemy could not attack 
otherwise than under their fire. One troop of horse- 
artillery took up a position in front of the left flank at 
the extremity of a ravine, from whence eight guns could 
play on the flank of the advancing enemy, and four 


222 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


more were placed still farther to the left, on the road 
leading from the village of Elle, on our left flank. Be¬ 
sides these, the guns of another troop of horse artillery 
and six guns in battery were turned against the enemy’s 
right. Behind Count WorontzofFs two lines of in¬ 
fantry stood the detachment of Count Stroganof in 
reserve, and still farther to the rear, between Cerny and 
Bray, the corps of Sacken. From this disposition, it is 
evident that equal forces would never have dared to 
attack the position at Стопе, under a fire of artillery 
in front and flank. In Count Worontzoff’s corps there 
were 13,000, in Count Stroganof s detachment 5,000, 
and in the reserve under Sacken 9>000 men. 

The morning of the 23rd February was passed by 
both armies in making preparations for battle. Na¬ 
poleon, from the heights on which his army stood, 
personally surveyed our position, and concentrated his 
corps, while Bliicher waited for the appearance of 
General Wintzengerode in rear of the French. He 
had intended remaining in person in the position at 
Craone ; but he soon learned that the troops, which 
had been sent to turn the enemy, had not only not 
reached Fetieux, but were still far from their place of 
destination. Surprised by this unexpected intelligence, 
he sent orders to General Kleist to take the start of 
Wintzengerode, and march on Fetieux. He then 
sent for Sacken, to whom he entrusted the chief com¬ 
mand of the troops destined to fight with Napoleon, 
and set off after General Wintzengerode, to ascertain 
in person the reason of his delay. 

Soon after, about nine o’clock in the morning, on 
the hill where the affair of the rear-guard had taken 
place on the preceding evening, two columns of the 


BATTLE OF CRAONE. 


223 


enemy began to descend the ridge and march straight 
for the wood, where our skirmishers, under the com¬ 
mand of Major General Krassoffsky, were posted as a 
sort of advanced guard ; a third column, without guns, 
entered the ravine on the left wing. Perceiving that 
the French were attacking in earnest, Count Wo- 
rontzoff ordered Krassoffsky to retire from the wood to 
the position, and the artillery to be in readiness. To 
strengthen the left wing, and prevent it from being 
turned, he ordered thither the 2nd regiment of light 
infantry, one battalion of which descended into the 
ravine. Two squadrons of the Pavlogradsky hussars 
were likewise sent from the right flank to the left, in 
order to cover the guns in battery which were much in 
advance of the position. Count Worontzoff now waited, 
for the enemy, who quickly occupied the wood at Heurt- 
bise, and on coming out of it, advanced to the plateau 
in close columns of infantry and cavalry with artillery. 
Napoleon had appointed Marshal Victor to command 
the centre, General Nansouty the left wing; Ney had 
the right, which was destined to turn and rout the left 
flank of the position. As our artillery was admirably 
placed, Napoleon, in order to dismount it, ordered a 
hundred guns to play upon it. 

Hardly had the French completed their preparatory 
arrangements when a murderous fire opened on both 
sides. The Russians being formed in three lines, within 
narrow bounds, sustained a heavy loss, whole ranks 
being mowed down, but the infantry never wavered, 
while the artillery, was served with such skill and effect, 
that the French columns of infantry and cavalry advan- 
ing to attack it, were thrown into disorder by its fire, 
and compelled to retreat. “ With respect to the artil- 


224 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


lery,” says Count Worontzoff in his report, “ I had only 
to look on with admiration, and rejoice in the destruc¬ 
tion which it wrought among the enemy.” 

Napoleon, as if ashamed of the ill success of his 
operations against forces so inferior to his own, ordered 
the attack to be renewed. The cavalry of his guard 
took the lead, and Marshal Ney advanced by the ravine 
to turn our left wing. Here the Marshal made a great 
effort, but his column having been wasted by the fire of 
our artillery and charged at the point of the bayonet by 
the 2nd and 19th regiments of light infantry, the attack 
completely failed. At the same time, the French made 
an attempt to turn the right wing, by the advice of a 
Mr. Bussy, who had been Napoleon’s fellow-soldier in 
the beginning of the revolution, but had afterwards re¬ 
tired from the service to reside on his estate near Cra- 
one. On the evening before the battle he presented 
himself to Napoleon, accompanied him during the ac¬ 
tion, and on the strength of hi-s accurate knowledge of 
the localities, persuaded him of the practicability of the 
attempt. The depth of the ravine, the badness of the 
roads and the well-aimed discharges of six guns placed 
there in good time having defeated the attempt, Napo¬ 
leon again turned his attention to the left flank and the 
centre. Notwithstanding the unceasing fire of 48 guns, 
he formed close columns against the centre, and with 
others again made an attempt to turn the left flank. 
The battery of the mounted artillery stationed here, was 
for a moment in great danger, and some men, even in 
the second line, were killed by musket-shots. A bat¬ 
talion of the 19th light infantry and the regiment of 
Shirvan rushed forward with the bayonet and retook 
the horse artillery, which was for some minutes in the 


BATTLE OF CRAONE. 


225 




enemy s possession. A brigade of infantry now arrived 
from Count Stroganof’s detachment, and the fight was 
restored to a state of equilibrium. 

Count WorontzofF had already received two orders 
from General Sacken to retire, if the enemy should 
press upon him with overpowering forces; but he did 
not stir, being in hourly expectation that Wintzenge- 
rode would fall upon Napoleon’s rear. Besides, he 
resolved still to hold out, not merely because he confi¬ 
dently relied on the bravery of his troops, but being 
exposed to such severe attacks, while he had only one 
regiment of regular cavalry, it was easier for him to 
repulse them where he was, than during a retreat. At 
length Sacken sent a third order, commanding him to 
retire without loss of time, as by a change of plan the 
whole army, his corps included, had been ordered to 
Laon. He promised, at the same time, to send 
cavalry to the Count’s aid. 

The retreat was difficult, for two reasons: in the 
first place, because the enemy had redoubled the fire 
of his guns and dismounted many of ours; and, 
secondly, owing to the movement of Bliicher’s army to 
Laon, of which Napoleon could not be ignorant, and 
had therefore every reason to consider the destruction 
of the small corps opposed to him as beyond a doubt. 
Napoleon once more sent forward troops into the 
ravines to turn the flanks, and drew up large masses of 
infantry and cavalry to strike a decisive blow on the 
centre. In these circumstances it was the heroic firm¬ 
ness of the Russian infantry alone, which could save 
the corps from destruction, the more so that a defi¬ 
ciency of ammunition had already begun to be felt. 

At two o’clock in the afternoon Count WorontzofF, 

Q 


22(3 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


having made his regiments form in squares, ordered 
the retreat of the infantry to begin in ordinary time, 
and by alternate squares, and the artillery to follow. 
All the dismounted cannon, twenty-two in number, 
with the gun-carriages, were carried off to the rear, as 
well as the wounded whom it was possible to remove. 
As soon as Napoleon perceived the retreat, his attacks 
became much more impetuous, and nearly overpowered 
the right flank; but Major-General Benkendorf, with 
the Hussars and Cossacks, attacked the French, and 
effectually checked them on that point. Seeing the 
extraordinary perseverance of the French, Count 
Worontzoff several times ordered the infantry to halt 
in order to repulse them, and then retreated as slowly 
as possible, showing that he was retiring, not because 
he was obliged to do so by the enemy, but in obedience 
to orders. During the retreat, the superiority of fire 
was on the side of the French, on account of their 
numerous artillery, while Count Worontzoff’s fire was 
slacker from the want of sufficient force in horse-artil¬ 
lery ; but during the four hours he remained in posi¬ 
tion, his artillery had decidedly the advantage. 

At this moment Vassiltchikof came up with Lan¬ 
skoy’s division of Hussars and Ooshakoff’s dragoons. 
Their appearance in the action was the more necessary, 
that the field was becoming wider, and allowed the 
enemy’s cavalry to turn our flanks. Vassiltchikof, 
Lanskoy, and Ooshakoff, by continually renewed 
attacks, gave aid to the infantry; several of the horse 
regiment charging eight times. While the enemy 
were pressing hardest upon the horse, the latter, owing 
to the narrowing of the field, were obliged to halt in 
order to allow the infantry to pass. In this spot there 


BATTLE OF CRAONE. 


227 


was, by good fortune, a yard surrounded by a stone 
wall, which the 6th Light Infantry was ordered to 
occupy. This the enemy did not expect, and in their 
eagerness to attack the hussars and dragoons, came 
almost close up to the wall, when they were effec¬ 
tually checked by a volley from the troops posted be¬ 
hind it. 

In the meantime, Sacken had ordered General 
Niketin to draw out the whole artillery, and after 
allowing the troops to pass, to open his fire. A con¬ 
siderable eminence, sloping towards the enemy, and 
closed on both sides by steep rocks, offered an admi¬ 
rable position for the guns. To this narrow ridge, 
which it was impossible to avoid by going round, the 
enemy now rushed forward in masses. In the first line 
of the battery were placed thirty-six light, and in the 
second, at the distance of sixty paces, twenty-eight 
heavy guns, opposite to the intervals in the first line. 
When every thing was ready, General Sacken ordered 
the regiments, as they marched past the guns, to re¬ 
main on the flanks of the batteries. As soon as they 
came in line with the artillery, the cannonade opened; 
the first line firing by alternate guns with round and 
grape, the second firing in like manner with round shot 
and grenades. The carnage among the French was 
now horrible, yet they continued to advance in close 
columns along the narrow ridge. The thicker they 
pressed on, the greater was the havoc; till at length 
the slaughter was such that their advance was impeded 
by vast heaps of the dead and dying. The French 
artillery several times ceased firing, but Napoleon 
kept constantly sending fresh troops to the attack; 
these, too, after sustaining immense loss, were obliged 
Q 2 


228 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


to retire. The cannonade lasted not more than twenty 
minutes, the enemy having at length desisted from his 
attacks: this was about five o’clock in the afternoon. 
Count Worontzoff now sent a part of his corps to 
Chevregny, and the rest to Laon, where the whole 
army of Silesia had been ordered to concentrate. 

The battle of Craone is one of the most renowned 
feats recorded in the annals of the Russian arms, and 
the brightest ornament of Worontzoff’s military career: 
the immediate reward of his exploit was the order of 
St. George of the second class. Fighting for a whole 
day with the French army, far superior to him in num¬ 
bers, and led by Napoleon in person, he did not yield an 
inch of ground, till the order for him to retire had been 
thrice repeated. He left in the hands of the French 
neither prisoners nor guns, neither gun-carriage nor 
ammunition waggon: the enemy’s only trophies were 
the dead bodies of our countrymen. Like Waterloo, 
Craone mighF have proved the last day of Napoleon’s 
career, if during the time he was straining every effort 
to annihilate the Russians on the plateau, by bringing 
all his troops into action, Generals Wintzengerode, 
Kleist and Count Langeron had charged the French 
rear as had been ordered. Success would have been 
certain, especially if Bliicher, instead of disseminating 
his forces, had marched to that point with all his corps, 
and had reached the ground in proper time. This was 
not done, yet nevertheless, the troops appointed to 
withstand Napoleon, gloriously discharged their duty. 
Their valour and zeal, however, were not fully appre¬ 
ciated ; for as it was not thought fit at the time, to 
publish the real causes of the failure of the circuitous 
movement on the enemy’s flank and rear, the battle of 


BATTLE OF CRAONE. 


229 


Craone, so far from being painted in its true colours, 
was represented merely as an ordinary, though obsti¬ 
nate affair of the rear-guard. Add to this, that within 
a month after it was fought, occurred the mightiest 
event of modern times, the downfal of Napoleon. By 
its vast importance it swallowed up the past and con¬ 
signed it to a temporary oblivion. The happy and 
speedy conclusion of the war, which people had begun 
to look upon as interminable, threw into the shade ex¬ 
ploits mighty in themselves, but from which public 
attention was drawn away by the most important poli¬ 
tical changes. 

The battle of Craone is also one of the few in 
which to withstand an enemy superior in numbers, the 
most judicious dispositions, and the example of a 
general in chief are not sufficient; for owing to the 
narrowness of the field of action, it was impossible to 
manoeuvre. There, as at Culm, the event of the day 
hung equally on the personal courage of officers and 
men. It was indeed a day of triumph for the Russian 
infantry, proving beyond a doubt, as even the enemy’s 
historians have acknowledged, its superiority over that 
of the French. In their wish to excuse the failure of 
Napoleon’s obstinate attacks on this day, and to save 
the honour of their countrymen, they say that with the 
exception of the guard, and the regiments arrived from 
Spain, the greater part of his troops consisted of raw 
levies, while the Russians were veterans. In alluding 
to the French writers, it is but fair to add, that the 
battle of Craone has been described by them with 
more truth than the other battles of the campaign. 
The only circumstance which they have misrepresented 
is Count Worontzoff’s retreat, which they attribute to 


230 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


his having been turned. We have seen that Napo¬ 
leon’s numerous attempts on the flanks were uniformly 
defeated, and that the Count’s retreat was the conse¬ 
quence of a third order to that effect given him by his 
superior, and dictated by the obvious consideration that 
further defence of the position at Craone had become 
useless, when there remained no doubt that the troops 
sent to Fetieux could not reach it. 

In this battle there was hardly a regiment that did 
not distinguish itself by some notable exploit which the 
hand of time has almost effaced from memory. The 
second regiment of light infantry, single-handed, strug¬ 
gled successfully during some hours with Napoleon’s 
young guard under the command of Marshal Ney. 
The foot regiment of Bootuirka, being surrounded by 
the enemy’s cavalry, formed square, under a heavy fire 
of grape, and charging the horse with the bayonet, 
drove them off the ground. The regiment of Shirvan, 
being exposed to a murderous fire of grape shot, Major- 
General Laptief, who commanded the first line, went 
up to it in order to address a few words of encourage¬ 
ment to the men, when the grenadier companies of the 
two battalions asked permission to storm the battery. 
“ Do so in God’s name!” answered Laptief, and him¬ 
self led them to the attack. During the advance the 
General received a severe contusion which obliged him 
to quit the field of battle, but the regiment went on 
under the command of its colonel, Zaruikin. In the 
meantime the whole line had received orders to retreat, 
and the Shirvan regiment thus remained isolated and 
surrounded and charged repeatedly by the enemy’s 
cavalry. Their cartridges being exhausted, the men, 
with drums beating, forced their way three times with 


COUNT WORONTZOFF. 


231 


the cold iron, through the dragoons who were striving 
to cut them off, and rejoined the line, bringing with 
them, not only their colonel, who was shot through the 
body, but the wounded and dead officers. Major- 
General Poncet stood before his brigade on crutches. 
Having twice received orders to retire, he answered in 
the heat of the moment, that he was resolved to die, 
and would not retreat one step. Vuitch the comman¬ 
der of the division, went up to him, and receiving the 
same answer said : “ If it is your pleasure to die here, 
you may dispose of your person, but I order the 
brigade to retire.” 

We do not pretend to increase the harvest of glory, 
reaped by Count Worontzoff on this memorable day, 
by giving our readers a few particulars of his admirable 
conduct. While in command for some years of the 
13th and 14th regiments of light infantry, I often heard 
from the officers, whose recollections of Craone were 
then full and fresh, that the Count, notwithstanding a 
violent pain in the foot which he had strained on the 
evening before the battle, was ever in the thickest of a 
fire, which was compared by eye-witnesses to that of 
Borodino; and that while the troops were retiring he 
frequently left one square to enter another. He often 
rode up to the regiments, and allowing the French to 
come within fifty paces, give the word of command to 
fire. His coolness inspired both officers and men with 
the confidence so necessary in critical moments, and 
his brilliant courage excited them to new feats. 

The French acknowledged the loss of 8,000 men 
killed and wounded. In the number of the latter were 
eight Generals, among whom were Marshals Victor and 
Grouchy. Our loss amounted to 6,000. The hussar 


232 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

regiment of Mariopol, in the course of three hours, 
lost twenty-two officers. Most of the Generals were 
wounded, and two of them died of their wounds ; the 
latter were Lanskoy and Ooshakoff who were reckoned 
among the most distinguished leaders of our cavalry. 
United by the closest bonds of friendship, fortunate in 
love, rivals in valour where danger was thickest, pas¬ 
sionately attached to their profession, both fell on one 
field. Lanskoy would not consent to the amputation 
of his leg, which had been shot through with a bullet, 
and fell a sacrifice to a want of resolution so little in 
harmony with his usual fearlessness. Ooshakoff, on 
being mortally wounded, called out to his regiment : 
“ Halt, Courlanders!” and breathed his last. While 
speaking of those who laid down their lives at Craone, 
can we pass unnoticed the young and accomplished 
Count Stroganof who was struck by a cannon ball. 
The whole army sympathised in the death of this gal¬ 
lant youth of eighteen, who had grown up under the 
eye of the Emperor, and whose parents had been 
honoured with His Majesty’s warmest friendship. 

It is painful to reflect that the mighty efforts made 
on this field were wasted, and that the streams of Rus¬ 
sian blood which watered the heights of Craone were 
shed in vain; for the troops who were to have come 
down upon the great Laon road at F<$tieux, and to have 
carried disorder and ruin among the enemy’s parks, 
baggage and hospitals, and then to have charged 
Napoleon in flank and rear, did not reach their destina¬ 
tion. General Wintzengerode, the evening before the 
battle, marched to Bray, but his advance was retarded 
by the difficulty he experienced in making his way 
through the corps of the army, which as we have seen, 


BLUCHER FAILS TO COME UP. 


233 


were posted one behind another on the narrow plateau. 
At ten o’clock at night the troops were halted, and they 
remained stationary till daybreak, on account of the 
darkness of a February night, during which the Gene¬ 
ral did not choose to lead his troops over the hills by 
narrow paths on which they could only advance two 
abreast, and in some places but in single file. At 
length, it being five o’clock in the morning, the ad¬ 
vanced guard under Chernisheff received orders to 
move on, but the roads were so bad, and the banks of 
the Lette so steep, that the guns had to be lowered by 
men’s hands, and required each more than ten minutes 
to be carried over. Here the question will naturally be 
asked : why were not the roads surveyed beforehand ? 
In General Wintzengerode’s justification we have to 
say, that this had been done by him, and that he had 
sent a report to Bliicher, informing him of his having 
discovered a very short and convenient road, by which 
he was resolved to cross the country; but the Field 
Marshal having probably destined this road for the in¬ 
fantry, peremptorily ordered the cavalry to take the 
road pointed out for it in the instructions he had given. 
In such circumstances General Wintzengerode had only 
to obey. At ten o’clock in the morning, the advanced 
guard had overcome the local obstacles, and was stand¬ 
ing on the opposite bank of the stream, where the can¬ 
nonade of Napoleon and Count WorontzofF was dis¬ 
tinctly heard. Here General Chernisheff received 
orders to halt, and wait till the whole corps crossed, 
that is, till three o’clock in the afternoon. During the 
passage of the river arrived Marshal Bliicher, who per¬ 
sisted in his resolution of turning Napoleon, and see¬ 
ing that the cavalry could not reach the Laon road be- 


234 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


fore the evening, ordered Kleist to move on to his des¬ 
tination. Bliicher thus wrote to Prince Schwarzenberg : 
“ General Kleist’s corps of infantry, which had been 
sent to the Laon road, surmounted every difficulty, and 
although it moved off ten hours later than Wintzenge- 
rode, reached Fetieux before him.” This it is true, 
but he ought to have added that Wintzengerode had 
been ordered to march by roads which were impassable 
in the night, and to have explained why the corps of 
infantry had not been sent off earlier. Kleist did not 
reach his destination before dusk, and took no part in 
the action. The only trophies of a manoeuvre by which 
Bliicher had hoped to rout the French army, were 600 
prisoners taken by General Chernisheff in the enemy’s 
rear. 

The battle of the 23rd February was of as little ad¬ 
vantage to Napoleon as to the Allies. Had he come 
from Troyes to Craone but to lose 8,000 men, and to 
gain a few versts of ground, without reaping any real 
benefit? We can easily credit eye-witnesses, who say 
that on this occasion he gave way to despondency. 
“ At the close of this murderous affair,” writes his 
secretary, “ Napoleon, suffering from the agitation pro¬ 
duced by the uncertainty of the combat, and worn out 
with fatigue, was in one of those moods in which the 
stoutest heart must be filled with a disgust for war.”* 

When all was quiet on the field of battle, and Napo¬ 
leon had found shelter for the night in a neighbouring 
hamlet, Count Flahaut arrived at his head-quarters to 
inform him of the unsuccessful termination of the con¬ 
ferences at Lusigny. In the same night too, a report 
was received from Caulaincourt, informing Napoleon 

* Fain, Manuscrit de 1814. 


RETREAT OF THE RUSSIANS TO LAON. 


235 


that the ministers of the allied powers would not agree 
to make the smallest concessions, and had called upon 
him immediately to sign the peace, threatening if he 
did not, to close the sittings of the congress. This 
news and the idle waste of blood on the preceding day, 
wrought so powerfully on Napoleon’s nerves, that he 
gave an order to shoot some Russian prisoners, which 
was carried into execution at the village of Vaurain. 
One of the neighbouring proprietors recounted to me 
the particulars of this inhuman action. 

In the meantime Bliicher ordered all the six corps to 
assemble at Laon, whither they kept marching during 
the night of the 23rd of February, and the whole of the 
following day. The rear-guard of the army was en¬ 
trusted to Major-General Benkendorf, with orders to 
defend to the last extremity, the bridge where the Sois- 
sons road joins that of Laon, and along which the 
corps of Sacken, Stroganof, and Worontzoff were re¬ 
tiring. It was of the greater consequence to keep pos¬ 
session of this point, that it was indispensable to gain 
time for Rudzevitch, whom Sacken had ordered to 
march from Soissons to Laon. Major General Kras- 
sorsky’s brigade, consisting of the 13th and 14th regi¬ 
ments of light infantry and one company of artillery, 
reinforced Benkendorfs detachment, which had sus¬ 
tained great loss in the battle of Craone. The regi¬ 
ment of Pavlograd, which had gone into action 900 
strong, left the field with only 400 men. During the 
whole night, regiments, baggage waggons, the wounded, 
and at length Rudz6vitch’s corps, kept hurrying past 
Benkendorfs rear-guard, till at last men and horses 
got so entangled as materially to retard their retreat. 
If this circumstance had been known to Napoleon, 


236 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


and if he had attacked our feeble rear guard, our troops 
would have been exposed to very great danger; but 
the French were so exhausted, that they could not 
think of attempting any thing during the night. 

This was the true reason why the French did not 
stir from their ground till ten o’clock the next 
morning. When they did advance, General Benken¬ 
dorf took aavantage of the hilly ground, in order to 
conceal from them the weakness of his detachment, 
and checked their advance so effectually, that at mid¬ 
day he had not retreated more than four versts. Here 
he received an order to follow with the cavalry to Laon, 
and to give up the command of the rear-guard to Gene¬ 
ral Chernisheff, who came up with the two foot regi¬ 
ments of Penza and Saratof. The Field Marshal had 
ordered the latter to use every means to keep the 
enemy at bay, in order that the army might have time 
to take up a position at Laon ; “ otherwise,” added he, 
“ I shall be obliged to retreat to Avesnes.” 

Napoleon had given the command of his advanced- 
guard to the bravest of his marshals, Ney, with an 
order briskly to pursue the Allies, and without fail to 
destroy their rear-guard. Ney moved on to Etouvelle, 
where Chernisheff had taken up a remarkably strong 
position on a narrow piece of ground, defended on 
both sides by impassable marshes. Two regiments of 
infantry and twenty-four guns defended the position, 
which the French immediately attacked; but they were 
unable to overcome the stubborn resistance opposed to 
them. Chernisheff three times repulsed Marshal Ney, 
who, on the approach of night, gave up his attempts. 
When the affair was over, Chernisheff left in the posi¬ 
tion the regiments of Saratof and Penza with six guns, 


CHERNISHEFF’S POSITION TURNED. 


237 


and posted the 13th and 14th regiments of Light 
Infantry with eighteen guns, in a second line near 
Chivi, at the distance of a verst from the first. 

Napoleon was obliged to approach Laon at what¬ 
ever hazard. Seeing the impossibility of driving 
Chernisheff from his position, he followed the advice 
of the inhabitants, who offered to lead his troops in the 
night round our rear-guard by two footpaths, which 
were little known. For this purpose a detachment 
was selected from the old guard, and placed under the 
command of Gourgaud, one of Napoleon’s aide-de- 
camps, who was ordered to attack the rear-guard in 
flank, while Marshal Ney was pressing upon its front. 

In the night of the 29th, this chosen detachment, 
following the guides, made its way in the dark to the 
flanks of the second line, in which the Light Infantry, 
worn out with three days’ fighting, slept soundly, 
hardly dreaming of an attack. On a sudden the re¬ 
port of a musket-shot was heard, then another, and a 
third, and at length a running fire. In a moment all 
started up in the camp and stood to their arms, while 
no one could divine the cause of the alarm. The 
moment the firing began, General Chernisheff sent for 
the regiments which were in the first line, and as soon 
as they came up, retired in order with the whole rear¬ 
guard to the position at Laon. 

On the same night Rudzewitch joined the army of 
Silesia. Count Langeron had given him up for lost, 
thinking that the French would cut off his retreat; but 
Bliicher offered to lay the Count a wager that there 
was nothing to fear for a General like Rudzewitch. 
The event proved that the Field-Marshal knew his 
man, for Rudzewitch, by forced marches, slipped 


238 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


through the enemy’s hands, and reached Laon without 
sustaining even the most trifling loss. 

Here the Field-Marshal awaited the attack, which, 
on the part of the French, was attended with great 
difficulties, the position of Laon being naturally a very 
strong one. The town, surrounded by ancient walls 
and towers, stands on a lofty eminence, at the base of 
which, four villages form, as it were, as many bastions 
to it; Marcel and Veaux being on the north side, and 
S£milly and Ardon on the south. Around the hill, 
and on its slopes, lay the allied army. Billow oc¬ 
cupied the town and the villages of Ardon and Semilly, 
through the latter of which passes the great road from 
Soissons. To the right of Laon was posted the corps 
of Wintzengerode; on the left, York and Kleist, and 
backwards from St. Marcel, in reserve, Sacken and 
Count Langeron. There were 109,078 men in line, 
of whom 67,020 were Russians, and 42,058 Prussians. 
The French army hardly amounted to 40,000; for 
Marmont had not yet had time to arrive from Soissons 
to join it. These forty thousand regular troops, how¬ 
ever, were reinforced by considerable bodies of na¬ 
tional guards, but the number of these it would be dif¬ 
ficult to ascertain with accuracy. 

Before the battle, General ChernishefF proposed to 
the Field-Marshal to detach to the defiles at Chivi, 
from which the enemy must issue before forming, a 
number of troops sufficient to keep the French in 
check at that point, at least for some time. Bliicher 
approved of this idea, but instead of sending thither 
one or two divisions, he detached but a single brigade 
of Light Infantry, which took possession of the wood 
at the entrance of the defiles. The French did not 


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AFFAIR AT LAON. 


239 


long delay their approach. On the 25th February, 
early in the morning, they drove off the brigade, which 
narrowly escaped falling a sacrifice to the greatly 
superior numbers of the enemy. The French had 
sent cavalry with the view of cutting off its retreat, 
when Chernisheff, perceiving their intention from the 
hill at Laon, ordered one of the Cossack regiments to 
disengage the brigade, which, under this protection, 
came off without loss. 

As soon as the French had got clear of the defiles, 
they attacked the centre of the position, the villages of 
Classy, Semilly and Ardon; their skirmishers, concealed 
by a thick fog, even ascended the hill of Laon. 
About mid-day, the fog having cleared away, the 
Field-Marshal ordered a part of the troops to descend 
the hill and fall upon the enemy. This movement was 
executed with success, and the French were driven 
from the villages which they had succeeded in getting 
possession of but a few hours before. The fight was 
prolonged, with various success, around these villages; 
and though it occasionally became very warm, neither 
Napoleon nor Bliicher thought the decisive hour was 
come. Each of them had his own reasons for think¬ 
ing so. Before making a grand attack, the former 
desired to wait for the arrival of Marmont, who was 
following him from Soissons to Bery-au-Bac, and was 
on that day to arrive on his right wing, at the village 
of Atis. Napoleon kept constantly sending officers to 
him with orders to make haste. One of them was 
taken by the Cossacks and brought to Bliicher. 
Having learned from him that Marmont was to act on 
the great Reims road, three versts distant from the 
right wing of the French army, which was leaning on 


240 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


the village of Ardon, Bliicher resolved to confound 
Napoleon’s plans by attacking Marmont separately, 
when he should approach Laon. To do this, it was 
necessary to give him time to come up. It thus 
follows that Napoleon and Bliicher were both waiting 
for Marmont, the former in order, on the following 
day, to make a joint attack with him on the position at 
Laon; the latter, in order to rout him separately before 
the general attack should begin. 

At three o’clock in the afternoon, Marmont showed 
himself on the road from Bery-au-Bac, attacked Atis, 
and carried it. Night came on, the cannonade ceased 
along the whole line, and the troops retired to the 
bivouacs. Of the French, who were worn out by their 
long march from Soissons, and by the combat which 
had just ended, some lay down to sleep, while others 
roamed through the villages in quest of whatever they 
stood in need of. This was the moment Bliicher had 
been waiting for, in order to carry his plan into execu¬ 
tion, and anticipate Napoleon, who was preparing to 
renew the fight on the following day. Sacken, Lan- 
geron, a few regiments of horse under the command of 
Benkendorf, and the whole mounted artillery of the 
Russians corps of the Silesian army, marched to sup¬ 
port the troops of Kleist and York, whom the Field- 
Marshal had ordered to close up in solid columns, 
and, without firing a shot, to fall upon the enemy. In 
the stillness of the night, and in perfect silence, the 
Prussians moved straight on to Atis. The King’s 
brother, Prince William, who marched along the high¬ 
road, was the first to charge into the village with the 
bayonet. To the right and left the other troops fol¬ 
lowed his example, and General Ziethen, with the 


BLUCHER’S MOVEMENTS. 


241 


cavalry, turned the enemy. Atis was carried in a 
moment. The enemy, taken by surprise in the 
bivouacs, had only time to fire one round of grape, and 
then took to flight, every where pursued by the horse 
and foot. The suddenness of the attack, the darkness 
of the night, the shouts of the troops, all contributed 
to the rout of the French. They fled with precipita¬ 
tion to Berry-au-Bac and Fismes, where Marmont at 
last succeeded in rallying the remains of his corps. 
Forty-five pieces of cannon, one hundred ammunition 
waggons, and more than two thousand prisoners fell 
into the hands of the victors, whose loss did not ex¬ 
ceed three hundred men. In order to take full ad¬ 
vantage of the victory, Field-Marshal Bliicher resolved, 
with all his forces, to go headlong at Napoleon, who 
was still lying at Classy; and by falling at the same 
time upon his rear, to make the attack still more de¬ 
structive. With this view he ordered York and Kleist 
to continue the pursuit of Marmont to Berry-au-Bac, 
and to open through Reims a communication with 
Count St. Priest. Count Langeron, and Sacken 
received instructions to march through Bruyeres to 
Craone, and from thence to turn to the right on 
Napoleon’s rear; Wintzengerode and Billow were to 
remain at Laon, till Napoleon should begin his retreat 
from Classy, and the instant he moved, to follow him 
by the Soissons road. Agreeably to this disposition, 
at seven o’clock in the morning of the 26 th February, 
Count Langeron, Sacken, York, and Kleist moved off 
to their destination, and the Field-Marshal remained 
in person at Laon, in hourly expectation, that after 
Marmont’s defeat, Napoleon would retire on Soissons, 
through which lies the nearest road to Paris. 


242 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

To pursue the enemy, he despatched General Cher- 
nisheff to Classy with a brigade of infantry, and ap¬ 
pointed eight battalions to support him. In the midst 
of a dense fog, Chernisheff entered Classy ; but hardly 
had the weather cleared up when he found himself 
quite close to the French, who, so far from retreating, 
had just got upon their feet. The twenty-four guns he 
had with him immediately opening their fire, the enemy 
appeared confounded by the first discharge. Had 
ChernisefFs detachment been more numerous, the sud¬ 
denness of its onset might have produced great confu¬ 
sion in the French army; but on looking round, he 
perceived with surprise that the eight battalions des¬ 
tined to support him, so far from coming up to his aid, 
were in full retreat. This change was the consequence 
of an order from Blucher, who, seeing that Napoleon 
had not begun his retreat, had suspended the execution 
of his attack in front. This order had not yet reached 
Chernisheff at Classy, but the General, who formed his 
reserve with the eight battalions, without waiting for 
orders from him, as his immediate commander, on hear¬ 
ing that the attack was deferred, retreated of his own 
will. The General had now nothing left, but to re¬ 
turn to Laon with all haste. In order to execute this 
movement without loss in the face of the enemy, he 
ordered Colonel Suchtelen to make a false attack with 
the Cossacks, under cover of which he retired to the 
position, and there took the command of Baron Wint- 
zengerode’s first line. 

At nine o’clock in the morning Napoleon renewed 
his attack on the position at Laon, in order to engross 
Bliicher’s attention, and force him to recal the corps 
he had sent in pursuit of Marmont, and thus give the 


DEFEAT AT LAON. 


243 


Marshal time to collect his scattered troops. Hardly 
was the advance perceived, when orders were sent from 
head-quarters to Langeron, Sacken, York, and Kleist, 
desiring them to halt wherever the order should reach 
them, and to send the horse alone after Marmont. 
Afterwards, when the battle grew warm about Laon, 
and in the adjacent villages, these generals were ordered 
to return to the position. During the whole day the 
French kept renewing their attacks on the town and 
villages, but their constant failure at last induced Na¬ 
poleon to retire. After mid-day his parks and baggage 
were seen drawing off towards Soissons ; they were fol¬ 
lowed by his army late in the afternoon, but the rear¬ 
guard remained on the field of battle, and kept up the 
cannonade till night. On the following day the whole 
French army concentrated at Soissons, with the ex¬ 
ception of Marmont, who having collected the remains 
of his beaten corps, was lying at Fismes. 

Thus ended the fighting at Laon, and along with it 
Napoleon’s expedition from Troyes against the army 
of Silesia. It had worn out his troops, cost him 46 
pieces of cannon, 12,000 killed and wounded, and, 
what was of infinitely greater importance, did not realize 
his hope of beating Bliicher’s army and driving it away 
from the theatre of war. It followed that the project, 
to effect which he had marched from Troyes, had to¬ 
tally failed, while the Field Marshal had fully gained 
his object by drawing Napoleon away from the Grand 
Army, and leaving it at full liberty to act. Bliicher 
has been reproached for not annihilating Marmont, by 
pursuing him without intermission, and for withdrawing 
from Sacken and Langeron the order he had given 
them to attack Napoleon’s rear. It is said that he 
r 2 


244 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


ought to have persisted in his first intention, the rather, 
that with the troops which remained with him, that is, 
with the corps of Wintzengerode and Biilow, he could 
have maintained the strong position of Laon against 
Napoleon’s attacks. To meet this reproach it is neces¬ 
sary to state, that Bliieher, who had been for some time 
indisposed, was on that day suffering so violently from 
ague and an inflammation of the eyes, as to be no longer 
master of his faculties, and that the chief of his staff 
would not venture to take on himself the responsibility 
of carrying into execution the order to advance which 
the Field Marshal had given at mid-night. He pre¬ 
ferred concentrating all the troops at Laon when he 
saw Napoleon was renewing the battle in which Bliieher 
was not in a situation to command in person. 

It was therefore owing to the ailing state of Bliieher 
that the French escaped a final overthrow, either under 
the walls of Laon, or during their retreat from that 
town. Napoleon not only succeeded in retiring with¬ 
out being molested, but even during his retreat, as we 
shall see, gained a decided advantage at Reims, and 
without being pursued, reached Arcis-sur-Aube in a 
situation to give battle to the Grand Army. At this 
time Bliieher, the most indefatigable of the allied com¬ 
manders, inflexible in his hatred of Napoleon, with an 
army under his command far more numerous than that 
of the enemy, remained till the 7th March, that is, nine 
days, in a state of complete inaction, placing his army 
in cantonments, and spending his time in making ar¬ 
rangements in the commissariat. “ The true object of 
our stay here was not a military one,” he thus wrote to 
Wintzengerode on the 2nd of March. “ The only 
object I have in view is to give repose to a harassed 


ILLNESS OF BLUCHER. 


245 


army, and as far as possible to provide it with bread.’* 
That to such a degree his bodily sufferings had gained 
the ascendant over Blucher’s mental faculties is proved 
by the following occurrence. The quarter-master-gene¬ 
ral of Count Langeron’s corps having waited on him at 
Laon for orders, found him sitting by the fire, appa¬ 
rently in deep meditation. He announced his arrival 
and requested orders relative to certain matters sub¬ 
mitted to Blucher’s decision by the commander of the 
corps. The Field Marshal answered not a word. The 
colonel repeated his questions, but still got no answer. 
He remained standing for some minutes before Blii- 
cher in a state of embarrassment, from which, however, 
he was at length relieved by General Gneisenau, who 
was sitting at a table in a corner of the room, and said 
to him : “ Don’t you see that the Field Marshal is not 
in a condition to give you an answer ?” The fact is, 
that from the day of the battle at Laon, Blucher was so 
weak, that during the remainder of the campaign, till 
the taking of Paris, he rode in a carriage, being unable 
to sit on horseback. By confining him to a sick-bed 
and not allowing him to assist in giving the death-blow 
to the French, it seemed as if fate had reserved the 
final destruction of Napoleon for that army in which 
Alexander was present. We shall now return to him, 
and remain with him till he planted his banner on the 
heights of Belleville and Montmartre. 


246 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


CHAPTER XI. 


Reims taken by St. Priest. — Retaken by the French. — General St. 
Priest dies of his wounds. — General Emanuel falls back upon Laon. 
— Concentration of the Grand Army at Ards. — Battle of Arcis. — 
Napoleon crosses the Aube. 


The news of the victory at Laon was received by the 
Emperor Alexander on the day after his Majesty ar¬ 
rived from Chaumont at Troyes, where Schwarzenberg 
had his head-quarters. The Prince, as we have seen in 
the ninth chapter, had in consequence of the pressing 
instance of the Emperor, at length turned his attention 
to the right wing. To guard against danger in this 
quarter, Count Wred6’s corps had been removed to 
Arcis, and the reserves of Count Barclay brought up 
from Chaumont to Brienne. The other three corps 
remained in their former positions, viz.:—Count Giu- 
lay at Sens, the Hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg and 
Rai6fsky at Pont-sur-Seine and Nogent.: these last 
were watching Macdonald. 

Prince Schwarzenberg had received intelligence of 
the victory at Laon from Count St. Priest; but having 
as yet received no report from Bliicher, he wished first 
to receive official confirmation of this fortunate event, 
that he might with greater safety make the necessary 
arrangements for further operations. While waiting for 


NAPOLEON’S RETREAT. 


247 


Bliicher’s despatches, he resolved, on the following day, 
the 3rd of March, to attack Macdonald, whose corps 
was lying between Provins and Nangis. To this effect 
the Hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg and Ra^fsky re¬ 
ceived orders to cross to the right bank of the Seine, at 
Pont-sur-Seine and Nogent, and Count Wrede to pass 
the Aube at Arcis and advance through Plancy and 
Villenoxe, to support the first two corps. It was not 
Prince Schwarzenberg’s intention to crush Macdonald 
with the combined forces, but simply to force him to 
retreat, in order to be more at liberty in his own move¬ 
ments. On this account, the reserves did not follow 
these three corps, but were kept in readiness for every 
event between Brienne, Lesmont, and Arcis; Count 
Giulay too was left at Sens. The Prince’s attention 
was not so much directed to Macdonald as to Napo¬ 
leon’s movements, if it should turn out that he had in 
reality suffered a defeat at Laon. 

In the evening of the same day Briinneck, one of 
Blucher’s aide-de-camps, brought the detailed account 
of the victory at Laon, and the news of Napoleon’s 
having retreated to Soissons. Without regard to this, 
Prince Schwarzenberg affirmed it to be necessary to 
wait till Napoleon should have frankly indicated his 
ulterior movements. “ Our chief object, at present,” 
he thus wrote to Major-General Kaissarof, who had 
been specially charged to guard the passages of the 
Marne, “ is to ascertain what the enemy will undertake 
from Soissons; on that must depend the direction we 
shall take.” 

Hardly had the corps destined to act against Mac¬ 
donald set out for Provins, and the French Marshal 
evacuated that town and retreated to Maison-Rouge, 


248 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


when, at four o’clock of the same day, a report was 
received of the taking of Reims by Napoleon, and the 
defeat of General St. Priest, by which our direct com¬ 
munication with the army of Silesia was cut off. 
Bliicher’s illness, as we have seen, was the cause of 
the feeble pursuit of Napoleon, who had retreated to 
Soissons without hindrance. There he learned that 
the Russians were again masters of Reims from whence 
they could act on the flank of the troops which he in¬ 
tended leaving at Soissons. On this account he 
resolved-to march on that town, perhaps not without 
the hope of there gaining something like a victory, 
which might encourage his troops and efface from the 
minds of his subjects the painful impressions produced 
by his fruitless attempts against the Silesian army. 
Ordering Marshal Mortier to remain at Soissons to 
watch Bliicher’s army, he set off, on the 1st of March, 
with the remainder of his troops, for Reims, then occu¬ 
pied by Count St. Priest, to whose operations we shall 
now turn. 

Agreeably to the order by which Field Marshal 
Bliicher, on leaving Mery for Meaux, had left with 
Count St. Priest, it was the affair of the latter to keep 
up the communications between the Grand Army and 
that of Silesia. For this purpose he removed from 
Vitry to Chalons. Having there heard that Reims 
had been abandoned by the Cossacks, and was in the 
hands of the French, he employed General Emanuel to 
ascertain the fact. Having made his survey, in the 
course of which he dispersed several bands of armed 
peasants, the General reported that the garrison of 
Reims was weak, especially in cavalry. Count St. 
Priest now took under his command the detachment of 


ATTACK ON REIMS. 


249 


the Prussian General Iagow, and marched along with 
him to Reims. On reaching the town, he called upon 
the garrison to surrender, but the flag of truce was 
fired on with grape from the town walls, which were 
crowded with spectators. On retiring, the officer left 
a paper on the ground, in the sight of the enemy, con¬ 
taining an appeal to the garrison and inhabitants. 
Count St. Priest desired to make the attack on the in¬ 
stant, but he had hardly time to begin it, when cavalry 
appeared from Berry-au-Bac, which came up in time to 
enter the town. Presuming it was followed by in¬ 
fantry, he gave orders to cease firing and drew off to 
Sillery in order to wait the arrival of General Pantchu- 
lidzef, who was coming up to him from Mentz with a 
detachment of 5,000 men. The detachment arrived 
on the 27th February, and the next day, at day-break, 
was fixed on for storming Reims. General Iagow with 
the Prussians was to make a false attack, on the side 
of Fismes, and General Emanuel was sent with the 
cavalry to Berry-au-Bac, to cut off the retreat of the 
troops, who might quit the town: the Count in person 
resolved to make the true attack with the Russian 
regiments. 

The columns marched from Sillery, in the night of 
the 27th February. The guide, who conducted the 
main body, lost his way, and was leading the troops 
backwards and forwards through the fields, when a can¬ 
nonade was suddenly heard. It was that of the artil¬ 
lery of General Iagow, who had begun the false attack. 
Without much serious opposition he succeeded in 
making his way into Reims. Close after him came 
up Count St. Priest, against whom the French were 
hardly allowed time to open their fire. The infantry 


250 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


rushed into the town, but as part of the dispersed 
French troops fired a few shots from the houses, our 
men began to plunder. Discipline, however, was soon 
restored, and an order given to put all, in whose pos¬ 
session plunder was found, under arrest, and to re¬ 
store the stolen things to their owners. Two French 
columns, one of infantry and another of cavalry, suc¬ 
ceeded in getting out of the town. The first, to the 
number of 600 men was attacked and broken, by 
General Emanuel, and the whole taken prisoners or 
drowned in the Vele; but the battalion of infantry, 
forming close column, coolly awaited the charge of our 
cavalry and repulsed it. Ten guns and some hun¬ 
dreds of prisoners were captured in Reims. For this 
feat Count St. Priest was immediately rewarded with 
the order of St. George of the second class. Having 
on this day ordered prayers to be said in the field, the 
Count went to the cathedral, after giving permission 
to the troops, for the sake of a little recreation, to amuse 
themselves in the surrounding hamlets. Thinking, 
after the defeat of the French at Laon and their re¬ 
treat to Soissons, of which he had received intelligence 
from Marshal Bliicher, that he had no danger to appre¬ 
hend, he did not take the proper measures of precau¬ 
tion by sending out patrols. 

About mid-day appeared the cavalry of Napoleon’s 
advanced-guard, and charged the Prussians, who, to the 
number of six battalions consisting of Landwehr, had 
taken post on the road to Soissons. Expecting any 
thing but an attack, they had laid aside their ammuni¬ 
tion and were washing their linen in the river. Many 
were cut down and many taken prisoners ; the re¬ 
mainder fled with General Iagow, who had hardly time 


REIMS RETAKEN. 


251 


to mount an unsaddled horse. The Prussians, how¬ 
ever, at last got into square, and bravely defended 
themselves, notwithstanding that the half of them were 
in uniform, and the rest in their shirts, some even 
barefooted. 

A Prussian horse-soldier, who had got the start of 
his comrades, now galloped into the town with the 
news of the attack. When it was reported to Count 
St. Priest, who was then in the church, he gave the 
following answer :—“ It is doubtless an alarm caused 
by some partizan come from Epernay. Neither the 
French army, nor any of its corps, can have arrived 
from Soissons. If a partizan,” he added, “ has taken 
advantage of the negligence of the Prussians, they 
have themselves to blame.” Another messenger soon 
arrived with a report that the enemy’s numbers were 
constantly increasing, that they were not more than 
two versts distant from the suburbs, and that our guns, 
which had been placed there, might easily fall into 
their hands. 

Count St. Priest was at length convinced, when he was 
told that the enemy had artillery, and that their leader 
was no venturous partizan marching with a handful of 
men to attack a populous city defended by infantry. 
He now rode off to the threatened point, and sent 
round an order for the troops to march to the Soisson& 
suburbs. Some regiments, on hearing of the enemy’s 
approach, had hurried to the point of attack of their 
own accord, without waiting for orders, and for a while 
checked the enemy’s advance. The French General 
in command of the advanced guard, either in conse¬ 
quence of orders, or from want of resolution to ap¬ 
proach the town with cavalry alone, contented himself 


252 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


with his successful attack of the Prussians, and without 
attempting to advance any farther, threw out a line of 
flankers along his front. His guns too ceased firing 
and all remained quiet. This gave Count St. Priest 
time to form a part of his corps in order of battle. If 
our General had suspected the meaning of the enemy’s 
momentary inaction, he would doubtless have instantly 
retreated ; but he was deceived by his conviction that 
the enemy’s army, after the defeat at Laon, would 
never think of retreating on Reims, and, by the infor¬ 
mation of a soldier, who declared that the approaching 
enemy was only Marmont’s corps of 12,000 men, for 
whom Count St. Priest thought himself fully a match. 
Although another prisoner assured him that Napoleon 
was with the troops, the Count answered, “ He will not 
step over 14,000 men!” And so certain was he of 
keeping his position, that on being asked by a regi¬ 
mental colonel whither he should retire in case of need, 
he replied, “ There will be no retreat.” 

In no long time Napoleon arrived. Having glanced 
over our position, he dryly said, “ Les dames de 
Reims passeront un mauvais quart d’heure,” and gave 
orders for the attack. All at once, from behind a hill, 
and a wood which had concealed the enemy, dashed 
on a numerous body of horse-artillery and opened the 
fire. The enemy’s cavalry in close columns advanced 
from every side to the attack, which was chiefly 
directed on our left flank, against which Napoleon had 
concentrated 8000 horse. Then only Count St. 
Priest fully perceived the immense superiority of the 
enemy. He instantly ordered the second line to retire 
through Reims in the direction of Laon, while the first 
line was keeping the enemy at bay. Hardly had he 


REIMS RETAKEN. 


253 


given this order when he was wounded in the shoulder 
by a ball. The Prussian battery, where he was stand¬ 
ing, instantly retreated into the town, and the troops 
being overpowered, threw themselves into the suburbs, 
by the only bridge which here unites the steep banks 
of the Vele. Owing to the narrowness of the bridge 
and the streets, the columns got entangled at every 
step, and in less than a quarter of an hour became a 
mere mob. Such disorder must have brought com¬ 
plete destruction on the corps, but for a battalion of 
the foot regiment of Riazan, whose commander, 
Colonel Scobelef, who was posted at the defile and 
still preserved his presence of mind, singly opposed 
the almost irresistible rush of the enemy. In the 
midst of this indescribable rout, he succeeded in form¬ 
ing his regiment in square, and, by repulsing three 
charges of an immense mass of cavalry, gave time to 
the artillery and baggage to get into the town. At 
length the battalion itself opened a passage with the 
bayonet and entered the town, with the wounded 
Count St. Priest, who had been carried into the 
square in the thick of the fight. 

General Emanuel was giving orders in advance of 
the bridge, while the Riazan regiment was engaged. 
At the moment of the greatest danger, he called out 
to the men, “ On you depends the safety of the corps ! ” 
He then returned into the town, hastily posted troops 
for its defence, and then rode off to seek the General 
who was next to St. Priest in the order of seniority. 
He found him beyond the town, consulting about what 
was to be done. This General, who had not quite 
recovered from a swoon, in which he had fallen from 
his horse in the very beginning of the enemy’s attack, 


254 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


declared that he was unable to take the command of 
the corps; and General Emanuel therefore took his 
place. As evening was approaching, it was resolved 
in the council to keep possession of Reims till the fol¬ 
lowing morning, and then, if reinforcements should not 
arrive from General York, to retire to Berry-au-Bac. 
But the enemy, by fording the Vele, had already 
begun to march round the town. Another council was 
now called, in which it was resolved to retire imme¬ 
diately, and an order was then sent to the senior officer 
in Reims to evacuate the town. The messenger did 
not find the officer in question, who, on seeing himself 
about to be surrounded, had marched out without wait¬ 
ing for orders, leaving Reims in the hands of a brave 
non-commissioned officer of the 33rd Regiment of 
Light Infantry, with two hundred men chosen from all 
the regiments. He had ordered him to hold out to 
the last extremity, but with permission to surrender, if 
he saw no chance of escape. This handful of brave 
men, thus offered up as a sacrifice to Napoleon, never 
once thought of surrendering. General Emanuel’s 
aide-de-camp found them encouraging each other, 
dividing their last remaining cartridges, and using 
every exertion for the defence of the town. Having 
received the order to retire, they fortunately escaped 
captivity, although they were obliged to force their 
way through the enemy. They were favoured by the 
darkness of the night, their own prudence, and Provi¬ 
dence which watches over the brave. They now re¬ 
joined their regiments, the majority of which had taken 
the road to Laon, while the rest, in their consterna¬ 
tion, had fled in the direction of Chalons. Ten pieces 
of cannon, one Russian and nine Prussian, fell into the 


PRINCE SCHWARZENBERG. 


255 


hands of the enemy. Within a fortnight, General St. 
Priest died of his wound at Laon, where a monument, 
with a suitable inscription, was erected to him, but 
which the French destroyed after the dethronement of 
the Bourbons in 1830. 

Prince Schwarzenberg, having heard, on the 4th 
March, of Count St. Priest’s defeat, changed the desti¬ 
nation of the corps of the Grand Army. Giving up 
his original design of attacking Macdonald, who had 
already retreated to Provins, his intention was now to 
march through Chalons in order to join Bliicher, as he 
thought the latter was certainly pursuing Napoleon 
without losing sight of him for an instant. To carry 
this new plan into execution, he ordered Count Wred6 
not to stir from Arcis; the Prince of Wirtemberg and 
Count Giulay to march to Troyes through Pont-sur- 
Seine and Sens, the reserve of Count Barclay to re¬ 
main at Brienne, and Rai6fsky, who was in sight of 
Macdonald, to keep that Marshal employed by false 
movements. Raiefsky was further desired to retire to 
Pont-sur-Seine, if Macdonald should attack him, and 
if the Marshal should retreat, to pursue him slowly with 
the cavalry. 

While these changes were being made, the Emperor 
Alexander remained at Troyes, which might now be 
considered the centre of the army. His Majesty had 
intended removing to Arcis, but on hearing of the cap¬ 
ture of Reims by the enemy, he gave up his intention. 
With respect to Prince Schwarzenberg, Napoleon’s 
new victory had thrown him into a state of great agita¬ 
tion. So far from preserving that coolness and pre¬ 
sence of mind so necessary to a Commander-in-chief in 
difficult conjunctures, he seemed completely at a loss ; 


256 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


and, as if to avoid meeting with the Emperor Alexan¬ 
der, kept shifting from one place to another. Those 
gloomy days are well painted in the following lines 
which we borrow from an autograph letter of His 
Majesty’s Adjutant-General, Prince Volkonsky, to 
General Toll. “ We ourselves don’t know what we 
want. For God’s sake tranquillise us with something 
or other. What pleasure can the Field Marshal have 
in keeping out of our way ? We are merely losing 
time in written correspondence.” 

His Majesty was particularly anxious for the safety 
of Raiefsky’s advanced-guard under the command of 
Count Pahlen, who, after the general movement of the 
troops to Troyes and Arcis, was left alone to make 
head against Macdonald, by manoeuvring against him 
in such a manner as to avoid a defeat in case of being 
attacked, and in the event of Macdonald’s retreat, to 
make him believe that our advanced-guard was much 
stronger than it really was. Being resolved that this 
detachment should not fall a fruitless sacrifice to the 
superior numbers of the enemy, the Emperor ordered 
Pahlen to retire to the left bank of the Seine. In the 
following order transmitted by Prince Volkonsky to 
Raiefsky, a route is even laid down for this retrograde 
movement. 

“ The Emperor having received your report to the 
Commander-in-chief, is very uneasy about the advanced- 
guard under Pahlen, which has been left on the other 
side of the Seine. I have received His Majesty’s 
commands to send you two expresses, with an order, 
that you should this very night, without fail, bring over 
the advanced - guard to this side of the Seine at 
Nogent; for it would be difficult to pass at Pont-sur- 


BLUCHER’S INACTION. 


257 


Seine (if there is no other road from Provins but that 
through Villenoxe) for this reason, that yesterday 
evening at seven o’clock, the enemy, in great force, 
obliged Major-General Kaissarof to retreat to Arcis, 
and was already in the village of Villers. It may thus 
easily happen that the enemy, having retreated from 
Provins to La Ferte-Gaucher, will take the direction 
of Sezanne, and from thence get into Count Pahlen’s 
rear. As soon therefore as Pahlen’s advanced-guard 
shall have crossed at Nogent and removed the bridges, 
both at that place and at Pont-sur-Seine, it is His 
Majesty’s pleasure that you execute the orders you 
received from the Field Marshal on the evening of the 
6th instant. Have the goodness to let me know by 
the bearer, for His Majesty’s information, the exact 
spot where Count Pahlen is to cross.” 

While this was going on in the Grand Army, 
Bllicher never stirred from his position at Laon. 
Having learned the success of the French at Reims, 
he thought Napoleon was getting his forces together 
in order to attack his left wing through Berry-au-Bac. 
For this reason, he concentrated his army about Laon 
where he prepared to give battle, for which he ordered 
embrasures to be made in the adjoining villages. 
Some days were wasted in this vain expectation, in 
the course of which Bliicher fairly lost sight of the 
French army, as is plain from the following order 
sent by him to General Wintzengerode on the 3d of 
March. 

“As I do not know what direction Napoleon has 
taken from Reims, it is my desire that you should send 
the light cavalry up the Aisne, and from thence detach 
parties to discover whether he has marched to Rethel, 

s 


258 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Chalons, Epernay, or Berry-au-Bac, which are the only 
roads he could take.” 

How long and how complete was the Field MarshaPs 
ignorance of the motions of his enemy may be seen 
by the following extract from his instructions to 
Baron Wintzengerode of the 7th March, consequently 
four days after the order we have quoted. “ The in¬ 
habitants say that the enemy marched from Fismes to 
Reims; but that when the fog cleared away, they saw 
the French cavalry, artillery, and baggage, coming from 
Reims towards Fismes.” 

The Field-Marshal wavered in the midst of these 
contradictory reports, while he was suffering from ill¬ 
ness and his army from hunger. “ I am struggling 
with the greatest want of provisions (he wrote thus to 
Prince Schwarzenberg) the soldiers have been for 
some days without bread, and as I am cut off from 
Nancy, I have no possibility of procuring it. The 
enemy is still at Reims : Napoleon with the guard was 
there yesterday; from which I conclude that the 
Grand Army is still far from Paris.” Not knowing 
how to get this letter conveyed to Prince Schwarzen¬ 
berg, Bliicher ordered it to be written on a small scrap 
of paper, and desired General Chernisheff to send it 
by an officer of trust, to the Grand Army, with orders 
to swallow it if he should be taken prisoner. At the 
same time another letter was given to the messenger 
which he was to show to the French in that event. It 
is needless to say that the tenor of the second letter 
was altogether different from that of the first, being 
purposely written to deceive the enemy. Its contents 
were as follows: “ Your Highness has been informed 
by the couriers sent you, of the taking of Reims, and 


MOVEMENTS OF NAPOLEON. 259 

that the enemy afterwards retook that town. Count 
St. Priest with a great part of his troops has joined me 
at Berry-au-Bac. To-morrow I shall receive powerful 
reinforcements from the Netherlands; the parks with 
the provisions arrived to-day. As I have now bread 
for ten days, I have begun to put the army in motion.” 

On comparing the respective situations of the con¬ 
tending armies, we see that during the first days of 
March the Commanders-in-chief of the allied armies 
lost themselves in projects. The ailing Bliicher did 
not stir from Laon, and Prince Schwarzenberg, who 
was likewise indisposed, was tardily drawing his troops 
towards Troyes. Between them, Napoleon halted for 
three days at Reims, to give some repose to his worn- 
out army: here reinforcements of ten thousand men 
reached him. He too had to form new plans for the 
campaign, which in the course of the preceding fort¬ 
night had assumed an entirely new aspect. 

In the middle of February, when he marched from 
Troyes after Bliicher, the Grand Army was in full re¬ 
treat to Langres, but now it was again at the banks of 
the Seine and the Aube ; and Bliicher, whom he had 
hoped to beat, was not only unconquered, but trium¬ 
phant at Laon, and might hourly appear in his rear. 
As Napoleon’s chief aim was to save Paris, his choice 
of the army on which he should make an immediate 
attack, could not be long doubtful: the Grand Army 
was the nearer of the two to his capital. He therefore 
resolved to act against it, but not in front where he 
could have little hope of decided success on account of 
his inferiority in force ; his plan was to fall upon the 
rear or the extremity of the right wing. 

On the 5th March, Napoleon commenced his ad- 
s 2 


260 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

vance on the offensive from Reims to the Marne, and 
so on to the Aube, which he intended to cross either 
at Arcis or at Plancy, according to the information 
he expected to receive of the distribution of the Grand 
Army. On the following day in the morning, Major- 
General Kaissarof, who had been ordered in good time 
from Sezanne to La Fere Champenoise, reported that 
20,000 of the enemy had arrived at the latter of these 
towns. Again at 5 o’clock in the afternoon he gave 
notice by a second report that the French advanced- 
guard had already reached Herbisse, distant seven versts 
from Arcis. Although this intelligence induced Prince 
Schwarzenberg to suspend his original intention, of 
drawing nearer to Bliicher, and to think of concen¬ 
trating the armies at Trannes, in order to keep on the 
line of his communications, yet it did not fully con¬ 
vince him that Napoleon was marching against him. 
He did not give entire credit to the reports of our par- 
tizan, considering them as exaggerations, and gave no 
order for accelerating the movements of the corps. 
u It cannot be,” said he to General Toll, “that Napo¬ 
leon is coming upon us with all his forces; Bliicher 
will certainly not lose sight of him.” 

General Toll vainly attempted to convince him, that 
so experienced an officer as Kaissarof was deserving of 
his full confidence. The Field Marshal remained in¬ 
flexible, and agreed with General Toll only in this, 
that as our partizan had only 1,200 Cossacks with him, 
it was absolutely necessary to send him a reinforcement 
that in the open country where he was acting, he might 
at least have a small reserve ; four squadrons of Bava¬ 
rian horse were therefore sent to him. 

The Emperor, who was still at Troyes, was informed 


INACTIVITY OF SCHWARZENBERG. 


261 


by the frequent communications from General Toll to 
Prince Volkonsky, accompanied by the reports of Kais- 
sarof in the original, of every thing that was passing at 
Prince Schwarzenberg’s head-quarters, and also of the 
irresolution of the generals composing his council. His 
Majesty’s presence was become indispensable in order 
to put an end to the wavering of the commander-in¬ 
chief at a moment when the dissemination of our troops 
over a hundred versts of country, from Provins to Bri- 
enne, gave the enemy a possibility of beating us in de¬ 
tail. It was necessary to rouse Prince Schwarzenberg 
to greater activity and to make him come to a resolu¬ 
tion of some kind. The negligence and indifference 
at this time exhibited at head-quarters are incredible ; 
for who, but eye-witnesses, could believe that when 
Napoleon was almost in view and was marching with 
the evident intention of falling upon the different corps 
one after another, the orders to their commanders were 
not always sent to them by expresses, but often by post; 
and that too in a country where horses were procured at 
the post-houses with difficulty, and were often not to 
be had at all. 

At six o’clock in the evening, the Emperor, accom¬ 
panied by Prince Volkonsky, arrived at Arcis from 
Troyes, and drove straight to the house occupied by 
Prince Schwarzenberg, who was confined to bed by a fit 
of the gout. Meeting General Toll in the antichamber, 
his Majesty said to him with evident displeasure:— 
“ What are you about here ? We may lose the whole 
army.” “ Have the goodness, your Majesty, person¬ 
ally to examine the scruples of these gentlemen,” an¬ 
swered Toll. “ I have done everything I could to 
show them the danger of our position. It is indeed a 


262 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


great blessing your Majesty is come ; you will put all 
to rights.” Addressing himself to Prince Schwarzen- 
berg’s Adjutant-General Count Radetsky and his quar¬ 
termaster-general Baron Langenau, he put this ques¬ 
tion to them: “ Gentlemen, how do you intend to act 
at this critical moment?” They answered, “ that it 
would be necessary to wait for further information from 
the advanced posts,” to which the four squadrons of 
Bavarians had been sent. 

On hearing this unsatisfactory answer, General Toll 
represented to the Emperor : “ that every minute is 
now precious, and that no other means of warding off 
the coming blow was left, but to order all the corps to 
make a movement of concentration, and to stand be¬ 
tween Troyes and Pongy, and Wade’s corps to cross 
to the left bank of the Aube in the night and keep pos¬ 
session of Arcis and the bridge with all his forces.” 
The Emperor having agreed to this suggestion, ordered 
General Toll to communicate it to Prince Schwarzen- 
berg, who was in bed in the next room. The Field 
Marshal offered no opposition, and calling for Count 
Radetsky and Baron Langenau desired them to write 
corresponding orders to the commanders of corps : the 
Emperor sent off an express to Raievsky to hasten by 
forced marches to Troyes. At this moment, seven 
o’clock in the evening, a Bavarian officer, who had been 
sent to the advanced posts, brought word that the 
enemy’s advanced guard had actually reached Herbisse. 
Generals Radetsky and Langenau in preparing their 
new dispositions were not satisfied with General Toll’s 
plan of making only one retrograde march, but with 
their ordinary caution added, that in addition to that on 


PLAN OF ATTACK. 263 

the 7th, the corps should continue their retreat, on the 
8th through Brienne to the position at Trannes. 

The arrival of the Emperor at Arcis gave some de¬ 
gree of security to the army, but the danger was not yet 
over ; for Napoleon, after crossing at Arcis, might ad¬ 
vance by the straight road to Troyes, almost in the 
centre of the Grand Army. To do so, he had only to 
make the most of his time by routing Wi^d6 who oc¬ 
cupied Arcis, but instead, Napoleon left Herbiss6 
on the 7th, and descending the course of the Aube, 
made a flank movement to Plancy in order to effect a 
junction with the corps of Macdonald, who was march¬ 
ing from Provins. His intention was to cross the river 
at Plancy and Mery along with that general, and then 
to fall upon the right flank of the Grand Army, which 
he still believed to be on the left bank of the Seine be¬ 
tween Troyes, Nogent, Sens, and Pont-sur-Seine ; or 
at least, to cut off the corps lying on the Aube from 
those stationed along the Seine. There can be no 
doubt that this was the greatest blunder committed by 
Napoleon in the course of the campaign ; perhaps the 
loss of a day was never productive of more important 
consequences, for this mistaken movement greatly 
contributed to hasten the end of the war. 

Prince Schwarzenberg ably availed himself of the 
useless march of Napoleon’s army. As soon as he 
heard of it from Kaissarof he changed his plan, and in¬ 
stead of concentrating the troops between Troyes and 
Pongy, and retreating to Trannes, resolved to unite 
them in advance, between Arcis and Plancy, and to 
attack the enemy during his passage of the Aube. He 
thus passed from the defensive to the offensive, which 


264 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


was the more advantageous for him, that Napoleon 
would be forced either to retreat or to receive battle, 
with a river flowing between marshy banks in his rear. 
This was the only remarkable manoeuvre made by the 
Prince during the whole course of the campaign. As if 
reanimated by his interview with the Emperor, he threw 
off his former tardiness, and by thinking and acting with 
promptitude, annihilated the plans of his opponent, 
whose aim, as we have seen, was to beat his corps one 
by one. 

On the 7th of March, the hostile armies were in the 
following positions. The advanced-guard of Count 
Wred6 occupied Arcis, and his corps lay at Chaudr6 : 
behind him were the reserves of Count Barclay at Bri- 
enne : the corps of the Hereditary Prince of Wirtem- 
berg, Count Giulay and Rai^fsky, were partly at Troyes 
and partly on their march to that town from Nogent, 
Mery, and Sens ; and the enemy having crossed the 
Aube at Plancy was drawing on towards Mery. Prince 
Schwarzenberg made his arrangements in such a man¬ 
ner that, in the forward movement, the Hereditary 
Prince of Wirtemberg, besides his own troops, should 
take the command of the corps of Giulay and Rai6fsky, 
and then march with the whole in the direction of 
Plancy on St. R£my and Premierfait. Count W^d£, 
reinforced by the Russian reserves, was ordered to ad¬ 
vance to Arcis from Chaudr£. A powerful body of 
cavalry under the command of Count Frimont (since 
well-known by his Neapolitan campaign) connected the 
movements of the Prince of Wirtemberg and Count 
Wredё, and consequently was on the left wing of the 
latter. “ I am persuaded,” said Prince Schwarzen¬ 
berg in his order to the commanders of corps, “ that 


P5LAM OF ТМЖ- ®АТ1%Ж ®F АР CIS 

8 tK lc March. 181*. 



































I 




ADVANCE OF NAPOLEON. 


265 


the conviction of all of you is in harmony with mine, 
and that you will spare no exertion to make our 
enterprise as decisive as possible, in order to open 
our way to the attainment of the object of this sacred 
war.” 

The orders were sent off late in the evening of the 
7th of March. At day-break of the following day on a 
cold but serene morning, the columns marched off their 
ground ; the Prince of Wirtemberg and Giulay from 
Troyes on Plancy, and Ra^fsky by the Arcis road : 
the whole of the cavalry took the lead. At eight o’clock 
in the morning Count Wred6 formed in order of battle 
at Chaudre, and Count Barclay with the reserves at 
Onjon. In the mean time Napoleon having in person 
crossed the Aube at Plancy, had arrived at Mery, when 
he learned from the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, 
that there were almost no troops on the left bank of the 
Seine. This information, which was confirmed by 
patrols, convinced him that his flank movement from 
Herbisse so far from being of advantage, had merely 
occasioned a waste of time. For this reason he ordered 
the troops to return to Arcis, from whence he intended 
again to begin the offensive. Marshal Macdonald, who 
was on his march from Provins, but had not yet come 
up to Napoleon’s main body was likewise ordered to 
follow it to Arcis, to which the French were now re¬ 
turning, from Mery and Plancy, by both banks of the 
Aube. 

When they had crossed the little river Barbusse, 
and were drawing near to Arcis, Count Wred6’s 
advanced-guard received orders at ten o’clock to retire 
to a position from the town, which was then taken 
possession of by the French. While these movements 


266 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


of the enemy were going on, they were not fully 
known to Prince Schwarzenberg, who, of course, made 
no change in his dispositions. The two hostile armies 
continued to approach Arcis, while some firing in the 
advanced-guards was now and then heard. 

At eleven o’clock in the forenoon, the Emperor and 
the King of Prussia arrived on the heights of Menil-la- 
Comtesse, where the Russian guards were posted. 
The Emperor immediately dismounted, and walking 
backwards and forwards over the field with Count 
Barclay, alluded to the tardiness of the Austrian 
generals, and among other things said, “ These gentle¬ 
men have given me many grey hairsand then talk¬ 
ing of the enemy’s movements, he added, “ Napoleon 
will amuse us here with insignificant manoeuvres, and 
with the main body of his forces will march on Brienne 
and beyond it, on our communications.” These 
words, uttered in presence of us all, prove that the 
Emperor had divined the movements which Napoleon 
executed three days after, by marching from Vitry on 
St. Dizier. 

A great part of the French troops having now come 
up from Plancy to Arcis, began to march out of the 
town with the view of turning the Grand Army, as had 
been resolved on by Napoleon at Reims, or at least of 
occupying the roads by which it was concentring; for 
Napoleon was still convinced that it had been dissemi¬ 
nated over a great extent of country, and had not had 
time to assemble. Some of his generals who had 
gone out to view the environs of Arcis, on seeing the 
heads of our columns at a distance, returned to the 
town and reported to Napoleon, that numerous forces 
were before it. To these reports he paid no attention, 


ATTACK OF TORCY. 


267 


affirming that it was only the rear-guard or the flying 
detachments of the Allies:—he was soon convinced of 
his mistake. 

At one o’clock in the afternoon, Prince Schwarzen- 
berg gave the signal for attack, by three discharges 
from a twelve-pounder. Kaissarof, who was on the 
extreme left, having been placed there to connect the 
movements of Count Wrede’s left wing with Raiefsky’s 
corps, which was still on the march from Troyes to 
Plancy, opened the fight by an attack of cavalry. 
Having observed, that the artillery on the enemy’s left 
wing was feebly guarded, he charged it with the Cos¬ 
sacks and took three guns. The cavalry, which was 
covering it, fled, but was stopped by Napoleon in 
person, who had at length rode out of the town in 
order to assure himself of the correctness of the reports 
he had received from his generals. Being now con¬ 
vinced of their accuracy, he promptly formed his 
troops in order of battle; his right wing leaning on 
Vilette, and his left on Torcy. 

Count W^d6 began by sending forward the Bava¬ 
rian horse somewhat to the left, and opened the can¬ 
nonade ; but his main object was to descend along the 
bank of the Aube, to force his way into Arcis, and, by 
getting possession of the bridge, to cut off the French 
troops, who were on the left bank, from those who had 
not yet crossed from the right. One of the battalions 
of his corps even got beyond Torcy, but instead of 
steadily advancing in column, it began to skirmish, 
when it was attacked and chaced beyond Torcy. The 
enemy rushed into this village, which became the sub¬ 
ject of a very severe combat. Napoleon and Count 
Wrede, each sent fresh troops to the scene: every 


268 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

effort to wrest the village out of the hands of the 
French proved fruitless. 

On the left wing, the cavalry of Frimont and Kais- 
sarof had more success. It forced back the enemy to 
the town, and caused such confusion in the French 
ranks, that Napoleon was obliged to send his escort 
to the attack and several times drew his sword. “ Far 
from avoiding danger,” says an eye-witness, “ he 
seemed on the contrary to seek it. A grenade having 
fallen at his feet, he awaited the explosion and was 
soon lost in a cloud of dust and smoke. We thought 
he was killed ; but he got up, threw himself on another 
horse, and again stood before the enemy’s batteries. 
Death would have nothing to do with him.”* 

If our cavalry on the left wing had been reinforced 
by fresh troops, the attack on that side might have had 
the most decisive results, for the enemy’s infantry at 
Torcy would have been cut off; but although the 
reserves were now ordered forward to reinforce the line 
of battle, they were still too far behind to take part in 
the action. To protect his left wing from renewed 
attacks of our cavalry, Napoleon placed seventy guns 
in front of it, which opened a heavy fire on their assail¬ 
ants, and at the same time, he sent all his infantry to 
defend the village of Torcy, on which Count Wrede 
was continually renewing his fruitless attacks. To 
turn the enemy was impossible, for both his wings 
rested on the river, and on that account the hostile 
armies fought almost parallel to each other. 

Prince Schwarzenberg delayed leading the reserves 
into action till he should hear what was doing in the 


* Fain, Manuscrit de 1814, p. 191. 


ATTACK ON TORCY. 


269 


corps of the Hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg, who 
was on the left bank of the Barbusse. When he was 
told that the Prince had no enemy to fight with, and 
that the French detachment which had occupied Mery, 
was on its march to Arcis, he desired the Prince to 
join him, and ordered the Russian reserves to engage. 
The grenadier corps was posted in the centre, with the 
exception of one of its battalions which had been sent 
to reinforce the Bavarians at Torcy; they were followed 
by the second and third divisions of cuirassiers. A 
few troops of horse-artillery were sent to the flanks; 
among others, the second of the Guards.* As the 
batteries were passing the Emperor at full speed, he 
called out to them to remember the battle of Leipsic, 
in which the Russian artillery had wrested victory out 
erf the hands of Napoleon. 

The sun was setting, evening was coming on, Arcis 
and Torcy were enveloped in flames, and the thunder 
of the artillery shook the ground, when the Emperor, 
along with the King of Prussia, following the reserves, 
descended the heights of Menil-la-Comtesse. Behind 
their Majesties came on the Cossacks of the Russian 
guards, and a brigade of cavalry of the Prussian guards, 
making the air resound with their trumpets and war¬ 
like songs, whose echoes mingled with the whiz of the 
enemy’s balls, which passed over the heads of the 
monarchs. 

The Russian horse-artillery having reached the left 
flank soon reduced the French batteries to silence. It 
now began to grow dark, and the fight raged only in 
Torcy. After being taken and retaken several times 

* At this time there were only two troops of horse artillery of the 
Guards. 


270 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


in the course of the day, this village finally remained 
in the hands of the enemy. About ten o’clock the 
battle was over, but the woody banks of the Aube now 
and then re-echoed to the roar of the cannonade which 
had not altogether ceased. The Emperor was now 
making arrangements with Prince Schwarzenberg for 
renewing the fight on the arrival of the Prince of Wir- 
temberg the next morning, when all at once a heavy 
fire of musketry and loud shouts were heard on the left. 
This was an attack of cavalry made by the French on 
the detachment of Kaissarof, who had the honour of 
beginning and ending the battle of Arcis. The attack 
was repulsed, and beyond that of a common alarm, 
produced no effect. The Emperor now retired to pass 
the night at Pongy. During the whole of the day His 
Majesty had been suffering from a fit of the ague, 
which obliged him to dismount during the battle and 
lie down on the ground. 

Thus passed the day of the doubtful battle at Arcis. 
We call it so, because each of the hostile armies kept 
possession of almost the same positions they had occu¬ 
pied at mid-day. On both sides it was considered 
merely as the opening scene of the battle which all be¬ 
lieved would take place on the following day, when 
Napoleon and Prince Schwarzenberg expected the 
arrival of a great part of their forces which had not 
reached Arcis on the 8th.; Macdonald with two corps 
to join the former, and the three corps of the Prince of 
Wirtemberg, the latter. Grounding his opinion on 
the obstinate defence of Arcis, and on the concurrent 
testimony of the prisoners, Prince Schwarzenberg was 
fully persuaded that Napoleon would attack him on the 
9th, and therefore on returning late in the night to 


POSITION OF THE ARMIES. 


271 


Pongy sent round orders at one o’clock in the morning 
to prepare for action. The three corps of the Prince 
of Wirtemberg which had been sent to Plancy on the 
day before received an order to cross to the right bank 
of the Barbusse at day-break, and close up to Count 
Wrede’s left wing. Of these corps, Raiefsky’s was 
the nearest to the enemy, and on that account the pre¬ 
scribed movement was attended with difficulty, as he 
had to cross the Barbusse at the hamlet of Noz£ in sight 
of the French. Count Pahlen who led Raiefsky’s ad¬ 
vanced-guard, skilfully taking advantage of a small 
eminence, placed a battery on it, and opened a fire, 
under cover of which, he promptly formed the cavalry 
in line. The whole infantry then crossed after it and 
took up the appointed ground. 

At six o’clock in the morning of the 9th of March 
the Grand Army stood in order of battle : Count 
Wrede was, as before, at Chaudr6; the Hereditary 
Prince of Wirtemberg at the hamlet of Menil; Count 
Giulay to his left : and Raiefsky on the left wing at 
Noze. The grenadiers, cuirassiers, and the guards 
were in the second line, the greater part of them be¬ 
hind Menil-la-comtesse, Kaissarof, and Seslavin were 
observing both banks of the Barbusse, and Count Oja- 
roffsky, with the light division of the cavalry of the 
guard, crossed to the right bank of the Aube to keep 
an eye over the motions of the enemy on that side. 
Napoleon concentrated his army around Arcis in the 
same positions it had occupied the day before, and 
Macdonald’s corps which had come up was still left on 
the opposite side of the river ; probably with the inten¬ 
tion of marching through Brienne to attack the Grand 
Army on its retreat; for Napoleon was convinced that 


272 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


at day-break he should witness its retreat across the 
Aube at Lesmont. 

The rays of the rising sun glancing on the arms of a 
numerous host showed Napoleon how widely he had 
erred in his calculations. Here was a curious spectacle 
which rendered this morning peculiarly remarkable. 
Two hostile armies mutually animated with bitter feel¬ 
ings of long date, stood gazing at each other at a very 
short distance, without stirring from the spot they oc¬ 
cupied : each waiting till the other should begin the 
attack. On both sides, more than 150,000 men were 
under arms; the slow matches were burning at the bat¬ 
teries placed in front of the armies, while over the field 
there reigned a perfect stillness uninterrupted even by the 
report of a single gun. Hour after hour passed away, 
yet neither Napoleon nor Schwarzenberg would give 
the word to fall on. Some of the Prince’s confidents 
among the generals counselled him to retire ; the most 
experienced of Napoleon’s marshals advised him to do 
the same; yet both, as if convinced that the hour des¬ 
tined to decide the campaign was come, delayed, con¬ 
sulted and instead of drawing the sword and throwing 
away the scabbard, submitted to the rules of cold cal¬ 
culation on an occasion which might win a victory or 
avert a defeat. It is easy to imagine with what impa¬ 
tience the Emperor Alexander whom illness detained at 
Pongy longed to know how this hesitation was to end. 
Hourly expresses sent to the field of battle brought him 
word of what was going on, and at twelve o’clock re¬ 
ported that in all probability Napoleon would soon be¬ 
gin the attack, as the troops which had been left on the 
other side of the Aube were now seen crossing to the 
left bank. It thus seemed beyond a doubt that the 


ATTACK OF ARGTS. 


273 


field of Arcis was again to witness a bloody fight; but 
it fell out otherwise. 

Half an hour had not passed, when a certain degree 
of agitation became visible in the enemy’s army. The 
troops of the second line began to draw off in deep 
columns from the position to Arcis, and passing the 
river by the bridge, kept marching along the opposite 
bank of the Aube. It was plain that Napoleon did not 
find it for his advantage to fight on this ground. In 
order to retreat, he did not even wait till the dusk of the 
evening, but executed about mid-day and under the 
eyes of the Grand Army, a movement on which no 
other general but himself would have ventured. As 
soon as Prince Schwarzenberg was certain that the 
enemy was retiring, he sent for the commanders of 
corps, and verbally gave them the following order : — 
Count Wrede, as standing nearest to the Aube, imme¬ 
diately to cross that river at Lesmont and follow the 
enemy on his flank ; the Hereditary Prince of Wirtem- 
berg with the other three corps, viz. his Highness’s, 
Raiefsky’s and Count Giulay’s, to attack Arcis and the 
enemy’s rear-guard, and to begin the attack on a signal 
to be given by the Field Marshal. 

Three guns having been fired as the signal, at three 
o’clock in the afternoon, the troops were put in motion 
preceded by a hundred pieces of cannon, which opened 
their fire at the same instant. Rai6fsky got first en¬ 
gaged ; Count Pahlen charged the enemy’s cavalry, 
breaking it, and taking three guns. The artillery of 
the other corps moved on in line with Raiefsky, and 
formed round the enemy a continuous chain of bat¬ 
teries which kept up an incessant cannonade. The 
French being compelled to retire nearer the town, took 

T 


274 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


up a good position in front of it, which Count Pahlen 
attacked on the extremity of their right wing, and Raief- 
sky in front. The enemy was then forced to abandon 
it and to retreat into the town. The French artillery 
crossed the Aube and cannonaded our troops from the 
opposite bank: the cavalry followed it by crossing at 
the ford. Their infantry still attempted to hold out in 
the town, but the corps of Prince Eugene of Wirtem- 
berg, having rushed into it at the enemy’s heels, a heavy 
fire was kept up in the streets. By this time the enemy 
had succeeded in destroying the bridge by which the 
chief part of their rear-guard had already crossed, but 
many were drowned in their attempt to swim across. In 
order to prevent the bridge from being repaired, the 
enemy continued to keep up a heavy fire from the op¬ 
posite bank to a late hour in the night. 

Thus ended the struggle at Arcis which was so far 
important, that Napoleon finding the Grand Army con¬ 
centrated, failed in his plan of beating it in detail, and 
was obliged to choose a new line of operations. The 
allied troops under arms amounted to 90,000 men, and 
the French to 50,000. Our only trophies were the six 
guns captured by Count Pahlen and Kaissarof. The 
combat at Arcis is further memorable as having been 
the last meeting of Alexander with Napoleon, and as 
having forced the latter to abandon the field of battle 
to his rival, who, ten days after it, put an end to the 
blood-stained career of the mighty conqueror. 


275 


CHAPTER X. 


Success of Count Ojarojfsky. — Napoleon marches to St. Dizier. _ 

BUtcher attacks Marrnmt at Berry-au-Bac. — General Chernishef 
pursues Marrnmt to Chateau Thierry.—Bliicher proceeds to Chalons.— 
Movement of the Allied Army. — Napoleon crosses the Marne. — Vitry 
refuses to surrender. — Interception of important despatches by the 
Allies.—Junction of the Allied Armies. — Resolution of the Emperor 
Alexander to march to Paris.—Close of the Congress at Chdtillon. — 
Public declaration issued by the Allies. 


Three roads lead from Arcis to the north : one through 
Sezanne to Paris, another to Chalons, and a third to 
Vitry. It was thought that Napoleon would choose 
one or other of the two first as neither would lead him 
away from Paris. This conclusion proved a mistaken 
one. Leaving a powerful rear-guard opposite to Arcis, 
and crowning the right bank of the Aube with batteries, 
he retired in the direction of Vitry. At the first glance 
this movement was thought to be a manceuvre to blind 
the Allies to his ulterior plans, for nobody could think 
it possible that he would resolve to leave without de¬ 
fence Paris, the centre of his power, and the possession 
of which was one of the necessary conditions of his po¬ 
litical existence. Nevertheless the reports of the par- 
tizans affirmed that he had actually marched to the 
right. One Cossack officer, who had been out with a 
t 2 


276 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


patrol, was so confounded on seeing the French in full 
march for Vitry, that in his report he said, “ the enemy 
is retreating not on Paris, but on Moscow.” Although 
Prince Schwarzenberg doubted the accuracy of these 
reports, yet desiring in all events to keep near the 
enemy, he led his army across the Aube at Chaudre on 
the day after the battle at Arcis. He posted it be¬ 
tween Corbeil and Dampierre, that he might the more 
easily march to Vitry, or turn to whatever point cir¬ 
cumstances might require. The single corps of Count 
Giulay was left at Arcis to keep the bridge. 

In the night of the 10th, the French rear-guard re¬ 
treated from the neighbourhood of Arcis to Sommepy, 
where it was attacked by Count Ojaroffsky. Having 
on the preceding evening received information from his 
patrols that artillery was in march on the road to Vitry, 
he sent the hulans of the guards to look out for it, and 
soon learned that the French had halted for the night 
at the village of Sommepy. At day-break the next 
day he ordered the same regiment to attack the enemy. 
One squadron broke the cavalry which had formed to 
cover the guns, but was finally repulsed. Another 
shared the same fate; but a third, commanded by 
Captain Strandman, had better fortune. It broke the 
enemy’s cavalry and forcing it off the ground, captured 
twenty-three guns, but succeeded in bringing off only 
fourteen, the enemy coming up in time to save the 
rest. In addition to this capture, 400 prisoners were 
taken, and a courier intercepted with dispatches which 
were brought to the Emperor’s head-quarters at 
Pougy. 

From these despatches we learned that the British 
troops had entered Bordeaux, and what was of incom- 


POSITION OF NAPOLEON. 


277 


parably greater importance, received ample confirma¬ 
tion of the reports of Napoleon having marched to 
Vitry with the intention of leading his troops through 
St. Dizier and Joinville, and falling upon the communi¬ 
cations of the Grand Army. Napoleon’s march with his 
guard to Vitry was further confirmed by a Frenchwo¬ 
man taken near the enemy’s camp by Captain Strand- 
man. She declared that she had seen the Emperor on 
the road to that town. Being taken to head-quarters 
she received a gratification of a hundred ducats. 

Napoleon’s movement to St Dizier, the propriety of 
which is still the subject of controversy, was simply the 
consequence of the difficulty of his position. Being 
pressed on different sides, he had not a free choice of 
lines of operation. He could neither remain where he 
was, nor march against either of the allied armies, both 
being superior to him in force. The combats at Laon 
and Arcis convinced him that he was not a match for 
either of them. Still less could he hope for victory in 
the event of their junction which he was not in a situ¬ 
ation to hinder. He reckoned that Blucher had in all 
probability broken up from Laon, and that having 
driven off* Marmont and Mortier who were watching 
him, he might be daily expected to fall upon his rear, 
while the Grand Army was arrayed in his front. Napo¬ 
leon had therefore only the choice—either to march 
on Paris, or on the rear of his opponents. He was 
prevented from taking the former by political consider¬ 
ations : for if he had retreated to Paris from Arcis, 
he must inevitably have drawn the Allies after him, and 
have thus exposed to the eyes of all France his ina¬ 
bility to contend with them. He was powerful in the 
opinion of the people as long as he kept at a distance 


278 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


from Paris, because he might there boldly write of his 
imaginary success, and continue to indite rhapsodies 
about his lucky planet, which from the extraordinary 
levity of the French people, were sure to find easy cre¬ 
dence. If on the contrary, the war were removed to 
the immediate neighbourhood of the capital itself, the 
French could not fail to see with their own eyes that 
he was reduced to extremity. This he tried by every 
means to avoid, in order to keep the spirits of the 
people from sinking, and to prevent his enemies from 
exciting an insurrection against his authority. He well 
knew the characteristic of his subjects to be insolence 
in prosperity and pusillanimity in adversity. By com¬ 
bining all these circumstances, it is not difficult to see 
that Napoleon could only march on St. Dizier and 
Joinville ; for although this movement became the im¬ 
mediate cause of the termination of the war and of his 
fall, it was still the only means, if not of gaining a 
victory, at least of drawing out the campaign and of 
gaining time, in the course of which some change 
in his favour might possibly take place. 

Napoleon believed that while he was acting on the 
communications of the Allies, the exasperated inhabi¬ 
tants of a country which had been ruined by a wasting 
campaign of three months, would rise en masse on his 
appearance, and that in the desperation of the people, 
he should find the means of defence and even of 
attack. The garrisons too on the Rhine, Saone and 
Moselle would join him and materially augment the 
number of his troops, which were now reduced to 
40,000 men. To this may be added that he was not 
ignorant that the impression of his former victories was 
not effaced from the imaginations of some of the Allies, 


JUNCTION WITH BLUCHER. 


279 


and that his name was even still a terror to them. 
And thus grounding his hope of success in this enter¬ 
prise even on the moral influence it was likely to have 
over the Allies, he reckoned, that as soon as they 
knew him to be in their rear, they would not venture 
on any bold operation, but would march after him; in 
other words, that they would do the very thing he 
wanted them to do. If any thing were needed to prove 
that he believed himself to be still in possession of the 
talisman by which he had so often paralysed, as it were, 
the moral energies of some of his opponents, it will 
suffice to quote his own words, spoken by him at Porto- 
Ferrajo to the Austrian General Roller, who had ac¬ 
companied him to the Isle of Elba : “ I marched on 
St. Dizier,” said he, “ because twenty experiments 
had convinced me, that I had only to send a few 
hussars on your line of communication in order to 
spread dismay among you. On this occasion I stood 
on it with my whole army, but you never troubled your 
heads about me ; ’twas because the devil was in you.” 

On receiving the intercepted dispatches, the Empe¬ 
ror sent for Prince Schwarzenberg, who had rode out 
in the morning to visit the troops in the advance, and 
in order personally to observe what was going on in 
that quarter. Between two and three o’clock the 
Prince arrived at Pougy and went straight to His 
Majesty almost at the same time with the King of 
Prussia. The Sovereigns and the Commander-in- 
chief now resolved to march to Chalons, and to join 
Bliicher, who according to intelligence furnished the 
day before by Baron Tettenborn, had at length moved 
from Laon, and was marching in the direction of 
Reims. This town was already occupied by Cher- 


280 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


nisheff whose advanced-guard was in communication 
with Tettenborn’s detachment between Reims and 
Chalons. 

In order to give some notion of the movements of 
the Silesian army, we must return to it for a moment, 
and for the last time speak of it separately till its junc¬ 
tion with the Grand Army. It was not till the tenth 
day of Bliicher’s stay at Laon, that he knew for certain 
of Napoleon having marched to the Marne, and that 
he set out in pursuit of him. This was on the 7th 
March, on the eve of the battle of Arcis. On leaving 
Laon he thus disposed of his six corps: Biilow was 
detached to Soissons, York and Kleist to Chateau 
Thierry, and with the three Russian corps of Count 
Langeron, Sacken and Wintzengerode, the Field-Mar¬ 
shal marched through Reims on Chalons. On his way 
he intended to beat Marmont, who was lying at Berry- 
au-Bac on the left bank of the Aisne to watch the 
Silesian army. To carry his intention into execution, 
Bliicher marched straight to Berry-au-Bac, ordering 
ChernishefF to cross the Aisne higher up, and to get 
in Marmont’s rear while he himself attacked him in 
front. General Chernisheff safely effected his pas¬ 
sage and circuit in a country in full insurrection, and 
in which the tocsin was every w'here calling the people 
to arms. He attacked Marmont and routed the first 
troops he fell in with, at the very moment Bliicher 
arrived at Berry-au-Bac, and was preparing to cross 
the Aisne. To escape from danger Marmont blew 
up the biioge, and thus kept our corps on the opposite 
bank of the river. Pursued by General Chernisheff, 
he letieated to Chateau Thierry, where he joined 
Mortier. Bliicher continued his march to Chalons 


ADVANCE OF THE ALLIES. 


281 


where he arrived on the 11th March, that is, on the 
very day the Emperor, the King of Prussia and Prince 
Schwarzenberg had resolved to march to that town. 

Conformably to the arrangement of their Majesties, 
the Grand Army was instantly to break up from the 
environs of Dampierre and Corbeil, and march during 
the whole night, and, after being joined by Bliicher, 
to act in the rear of the enemy. With respect to the 
line of communication by Chaumont and Langres, it 
was resolved, for a time at least, to abandon it, and to 
order the parks, artillery, and troops to return to Basle: 
a new line of communication was to be chosen, either 
through the Netherlands or across the lower Rhine. 
And thus paying no regard to our line of communica¬ 
tions, towards which Napoleon was now hurrying, the 
Grand Army, in his rear between him and Paris, and 
in the midst of a general insurrection of the enraged 
inhabitants of the country, w r as marching, so to speak, 
to shake hands with that of Bliicher. The strictest 
criticism must be silent on contemplating this well- 
planned enterprise, which, even down to the present 
day, has never been fully appreciated. It was the 
source of an uninterrupted series of fortunate events 
closely following each other, and which, in seven days, 
brought us to Paris, the aim and end of a complicated 
and difficult campaign, in which success and failure 
had in frequent alternation elevated and depressed our 
hopes. 

An order was instantly given for the corps to be put 
in motion and to march all night in the direction of 
Sommepy, so as, at day-break on the 12th, to con¬ 
centre at Vessigneul, between Vitry and Fere Cham- 
penoise. Some officers were sent by the road through 


282 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Chaumont to Basle, in order to anticipate the enemy’s 
march on our line of communications, by taking the 
necessary measures of precaution. Count Arakt- 
cheieff’s aide-de-camp, Kleinmichel, was dispatched 
to give information of Napoleon’s movements to the 
Grand Dukes, Nicholas and Michael. Their Im¬ 
perial Highnesses had quitted St. Petersburg on the 
5th February, and arrived at Frankfort on the 28th. 
Having crossed the Rhine at Basle, they had reached 
Vesoul, where they were unexpectedly met by Captain 
Kleinmichel, with a verbal report of the route being 
intercepted. It is not difficult to imagine the chagrin 
which this disagreeable news caused to their High¬ 
nesses. It was the more severely felt that the disap¬ 
pointment was owing to the slow rate of travelling of 
General Count Lambsdorf, under whose absolute 
authority they were placed. Had they arrived but two 
days sooner, they would have been present at the 
battles of La Fere Champenoise and Paris, and have 
taken part in the triumphant entry into the French 
capital. They were now obliged, with heavy hearts, 
to retrace their steps from Vesoul to Basle, where they 
remained till the close of the campaign. 

At this time Prince Schwarzenberg’s aide-de-camp, 
Count Paar, was sent from Pougy to the Emperor 
Francis, who was at Bar-sur-Seine; but His Majesty 
had on the same day set out for Dijon, whither he was 
followed by the diplomatic body, which had remained 
behind the armies from the time they had marched to 
Arcis. The temporary removal of these gentlemen 
from the theatre of war was a most fortunate circum¬ 
stance ; for, by their continual meddling, they had in 
many respects retarded the march of the campaign and 


RETREAT OF NAPOLEON. 


283 


proved the cause of many a failure. From the day the 
Rhine was crossed, they had been continually preach¬ 
ing up the necessity of making peace and presenting 
discordant opinions on the nature of its terms, and of 
the final territorial arrangements of the different states. 
On these pretexts they tried to conceal the fear with 
which Napoleon had never ceased to inspire them. 
Availing themselves of their influence over certain 
cabinets, they even arrogated to themselves the right 
of judging of military operations, often rendering it 
necessary to enter into discussion with them in order 
to show the futility of their short-sighted views. In 
these idle disputes with them much precious time was 
spent, which might otherwise have been exclusively 
devoted to the war. How injurious to the good cause 
had been the presence of the diplomatic body at the 
head-quarters of the army was put beyond a doubt by 
the fact, that as soon as they had set out for Dijon, 
and we had thus got fairly rid of them, the campaign 
instantly took a new turn, and was finished within a 
week. 

While the army was breaking up from the camp at 
Corbeil and Dampierre, and the Emperor was prepar¬ 
ing to follow the troops on their night-march, Napo¬ 
leon crossed over to the right bank of the Marne at 
Flignicourt, near the town of Vitry, which was occu¬ 
pied by the Russian troops. Three times he called on 
the garrison to surrender, threatening the town with an 
assault, and even brought up his batteries and opened 
a cannonade ; but the fortress held out. Anxious 
not to lose time, he did not, however, carry his threats 
into execution, and renouncing further attempts on 
Vitry, continued his march. The hope of success, 


284 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


which he still clung to, was no longer shared by his 
army. The French officers being necessarily unac¬ 
quainted with the projects of their leader, kept saying 
to each other on the march to St. Dizier, “ Whither 
are we going ? What will become of us ? If he is 
destined to fall, are we to perish with him ?” From 
these words, which are cited by one who heard them,* 
it is plain that the idea of Napoleon’s fall had begun 
to be familiar to the mind of the French army. A 
circumstance which tended much to strengthen it, was 
the arrival of Caulaincourt, who, on the very day of 
Napoleon’s passage of the Marne, returned from 
Chatillon to head-quarters, with the news of the close 
of the Congress, and consequently of the negociations 
for peace. 

On the 11th March, at eight o’clock in the evening, 
the Emperor left Pougy, and passing through the 
villages of V6ricourt and Coclois, crossed the Aube by 
a pontoon bridge at Nogent, and at one o’clock in the 
morning reached Dampierre, where he halted. His Ma¬ 
jesty travelled in a calash, as he was still suffering from 
the ague, and the road was lighted with torches. At 
Dampierre despatches were arrived which had been in¬ 
tercepted by Generals Chernisheff and Tettenborn. 
On being opened in presence of Princes Schwarzen- 
berg and Volkonsky and Count Nesselrode, two of 
them were found to be of the greatest importance. 
The first contained a report from the minister of police, 
Savary, on the state of France. It has unfortunately 
been lost; but those who read it said, that it painted 
in the deepest colours the wretched state of France, 
and her inability to continue the war, and that it con- 

* Fain, Manuscrit de 1814. 


INTERCEPTED DISPATCHES. 


285 


tributed much to the resolution of marching on Paris, 
adopted a few hours afterwards. In the second des¬ 
patch was the following letter written with Napoleon’s 
own hand to his consort: “ My love, — I have been all 
these days constantly on horseback. On the 20th I 
took Arcis on the Aube. The same evening the 
enemy attacked me near that town, but I beat them : 
they had four thousand men killed. The next day the 
enemy marched in the direction of Brienne and Bar- 
sur-Aube, and I resolved, in order to draw them away 
from Paris, to lead my army to the Marne, and to 
approach the fortresses. This evening I shall be at 
St. Dizier. Farewell, my love,—give a kiss to our 
son.” 

After this letter was read Prince Volkonsky proposed 
that after uniting with Bliicher a strong corps should 
be sent after Napoleon, and that we should take the 
nearest road to Paris with the united armies. “ We 
shall get there,” said he, “ in five days, and have Paris 
in our hands before Napoleon can know any thing 
about it.” Prince Schwarzenberg thought this idea too 
bold, and answered that he would not venture on such 
an enterprise without the consent of the Emperor Alex¬ 
ander and the King of Prussia. 

Napoleon’s letter had been intercepted by General 
Tettenborn, who sent a copy of it to the Emperor’s 
head-quarters and the original to that of the army of 
Silesia. Bliicher immediately sent it to the French 
advanced posts to be forwarded to Maria Louisa, and 
at the same time, with his own hand added a few lines 
to her Majesty, promising regularly to forward to her 
all Napoleon’s letters, for which, he added, “ there was 
no other road but through the army of Silesia.” 


28 б 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


It occasionally happens in time of war that whole 
weeks pass away, during which the leaders, either from 
irresolution or being occupied with preparatory arrange¬ 
ments, or for some reason or other, do nothing ; but to 
make up for the lost time, there occur days which, not¬ 
withstanding their shortness, are remarkable for events 
which rapidly follow each other. In the number of 
such is to be reckoned the 12th of March and the fol¬ 
lowing days which we have now reached. 

Napoleon’s letter to the Empress and the report of 
his minister of police exposed in all its nakedness the 
true situation of France and the real intentions of Na¬ 
poleon. It had hardly been read over, when an express 
arrived in the night from Count Pahlen with the intel¬ 
ligence of his having, on the road from Arcis to Cha¬ 
lons, fallen in with the advanced troops of General 
Chernisheff, that is, with Bliicher’s advanced-guard. 
Count Pahlen further reported that the army of Silesia 
was at Reims and Epernay, that Chalons was occupied 
by it, and that Count Wintzengerode was at Vitry. In 
this way the heads of the columns of the two armies 
met in the rear of the French. The junction having 
taken place sooner than had been reckoned on the night 
before at Pougy, the route of march to Chalons was im¬ 
mediately changed. All the columns, together with 
Wintzengerode’s corps, were ordered to incline to the 
fortress of Vitry, w T hich, as we learned also on the same 
night, had not surrendered to the enemy. It was now 
Prince Schwarzenberg’s intention to attack, in the 
neighbourhood of Vitry, the French troops which were 
still on the left bank of the Marne. 

At two o’clock in the morning the Emperor left 
Dampierre for Sommepy, where he made a second 


OPINION OF VOLKONSKY. 


287 


halt. The intercepted letters were here laid before his 
Majesty by Prince Schwarzenberg, who on retiring told 
Prince Volkonsky that the Emperor retained his former 
opinion, which was to unite with Bliicher at Vitry, and 
following Napoleon with the combined armies, attack 
him wherever they should find him. He then mounted 
his horse and rode off. Prince Volkonsky immediately 
went to his Majesty and stated his opinion that it would 
be more advantageous to take the road to Paris than 
to follow the enemy. After he had explained his ideas 
in detail, the Emperor desired him to call in Count 
Barclay and Generals Diebitch and Toll, who all hap¬ 
pened to be at hand, and when they entered, his Ma¬ 
jesty spoke to them as follows:—“ After the junction 
of the two armies we shall have to choose one of two 
plans: to follow Napoleon and attack him with greatly 
superior forces; or, concealing our movements from 
him, to march straight to Paris. What is your idea, 
gentlemen ?” Turning to Count Barclay, his Majesty 
asked him his opinion. The Count looking at the 
map, said “ he thought it would be best to follow 
Napoleon and attack him.” At first all agreed with 
him, except General Diebitch, who proposed that while 
the united armies were engaged in following Napoleon, 
General Biilow, who was lying at Soissons, should make 
a dash at Paris. To this Prince Volkonsky replied as 
follows:—“ It is well known that there are in Paris 
forty thousand national guards and fragments of various 
regiments, and that in addition to these, at a short dis¬ 
tance from the capital are the two corps of Marmont 
and Mortier. All these troops together form a total of 
ninety thousand men, consequently we cannot expect 
that Biilow with his thirty thousand men could under- 


288 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


take any thing of importance: on the contrary, he 
would expose himself to danger by attacking an enemy 
so greatly superior to him in numbers. I may add, that 
if we follow Napoleon, we must leave a powerful rear¬ 
guard to repulse the attack of these two marshals. 
Taking these circumstances into consideration, I am 
inclined to think that it would be the best plan first to 
unite with the Silesian army, and then to detach against 
Napoleon a numerous body of cavalry and some regi¬ 
ments of infantry, with instructions everywhere to pre¬ 
pare accommodation for the Emperor, that it may be 
believed we are following with the whole army. We 
ought then to march straight to Paris through Fere- 
Champenoise, and Bliicher through Etoges, keeping 
up an uninterrupted communication between the two 
armies. Following this route, we must attack Marshals 
Marmont and Mortier wherever we meet them. We 
shall beat them, because we are stronger than they, and 
each day will place two marches between us and Na¬ 
poleon.” 

This opinion being approved of by the Emperor, Ge¬ 
neral Diebitch said : — “If it is your Majesty’s inten¬ 
tion to re-establish the Bourbons, it would certainly be 
better for both armies to march on Paris.” “ We 
are not now talking of the Bourbons,” replied his 
Majesty, “ but of pulling down Napoleon.” It was 
then calculated how many days it would take to 
reach Paris, when it was found, that after taking pos¬ 
session of the capital, there would be time enough to 
put an end to Napoleon’s power there, and to take the 
necessary measures for meeting him if he should 
attempt to approach it. When the council of war 
broke up, the Emperor, wishing to communicate his 


RESOLUTION OF THE MONARCHS. 289 

plans to the King of Prussia and Prince Schwarzen- 
berg, called for his horse and rode off towards Vitry. 
At the sixth or seventh verst, his Majesty met the 
King and the Field-Marshal, whom he requested to 
dismount, and then desired General Toll to give them 
the map, which they unrolled on the ground. This 
was about eleven o’clock on a beautiful spring morn¬ 
ing, on a height within sight of Vitry, whither the 
troops were seen marching from every side, over 
meadows and corn-fields, which were just beginning to 
look green. The Emperor, leaning over the map, ex¬ 
plained Prince Volkonsky’s opinion, which was now 
his own. The King and the Prince at once approved 
of it, and gladly assented to the proposed march. 
Thus it was, that exactly one year and nine months 
after Napoleon’s irruption into Russia, Alexander 
pointed out the road to Paris,—a road which our de¬ 
scendants should never forget. 

Although it was not fitting to make public the reso¬ 
lution of the monarchs to march to Paris, it was im¬ 
possible to keep it long a secret. In order fully to 
conceive the enthusiasm with which it was hailed, the 
reader must place himself in the position of those who 
experienced all the ups and downs of the ever-memo- 
rable year, 1812,— who witnessed the desolation of 
Russia, the evacuation of Moscow, the profanation of 
our temples,-—heard the thunder of Borodino and Leip- 
sic, and who, after experiencing so many alternations of 
fortune, were now filled with a presentiment that the 
end of their labours, and of bloodshed, was at hand, 
and that the day of universal peace had begun to dawn. 
Having brought over the King of Prussia and Prince 
Schwarzenberg to his opinion, the Emperor set off for 
и 


290 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Vitry, where he passed the remainder of the day in 
making arrangements for the intended march. Before 
entering the town he met the Cossack regiments of 
General ChernishefTs advanced-guard, and conse¬ 
quently ascertained in person that the junction of the 
two armies was effected. The Emperor gazed with 
pleasure on this detachment, which, during the two 
past campaigns, had equally distinguished itself by 
valour and discipline. He entered into conversation 
with General Chernisheff, who had requested permis¬ 
sion to communicate something to his Majesty. After 
listening to his General Aide-de-camp, who was en¬ 
larging on the necessity of marching on Paris, the 
Emperor said to him with a smile, “ Ask Prince Vol¬ 
konsky what resolution we came to only half an hour 
ago. 

In the meantime, the corps of the Grand Army 
took up their quarters in the environs of Vitry, Count 
Wr^de’s at Maisons, Rai£fsky’s at Drouilly, the He¬ 
reditary Prince of Wirtemberg’s at Blasy, and Count 
Barclay with the reserves at Courdemanger; Count 
Guilay alone remaining at Arcis. The enemy’s rear¬ 
guard was no longer on the left bank of the Marne; it 
had crossed at Flignicourt, followed and watched by a 
detachment of the garrison of Vitry. 

At Vitry the following arrangements were made for 
putting the army in motion: the Grand Army was 
ordered to march on the following morning, the 13th 
March, and, without halting, to advance along the 
high-road, through Fere Champenoise to Meaux, 
there to be joined by the Silesian army on the 16th, 
the latter being ordered to march thither from Chalons 
and Chateau-Thierry. In this way the Grand Army 


MARCH ON PARIS. 


291 


formed the left, and the army of Silesia, the right 
column. On effecting their junction at Meaux, they 
were to advance on the 17th to Paris. In order to 
conceal this movement from Napoleon, it was agreed, 
in conformity with the resolution adopted at Som- 
mepy, to send after the French army a numerous 
corps of cavalry, under the command of Baron 
Wintzengerode. 

The details of the commission entrusted to Wint¬ 
zengerode, are unfolded in the following instructions 
written with the hand of His Imperial Majesty:— 
“ Napoleon has crossed the Marne with his whole 
forces, and is marching through St. Dizier on Join- 
ville and Vignory, with the intention of drawing the 
garrisons from the fortresses to his army and leading 
us away from Paris. Instead of following the enemy, 
the Grand Army, along with that of Silesia, will 
march straight on the capital. With the whole of the 
cavalry under your command, and the horse-artillery, 
you will immediately cross the Marne to Vitry and 
follow the enemy by St. Dizier. You will detach 
General Chernisheff with a numerous body of Cos¬ 
sacks to the right towards Montierender to observe the 
country between the Marne and the Aube, and 
General Tettenborn to the left, towards Metz, to 
ascertain whether the enemy is making any movement 
in the direction of that fortress. Your grand object 
must be to conceal the march of our armies from the 
enemy, and to give us accurate information of the 
direction of that of Napoleon.” 

In order more completely to deceive the enemy, 
Baron Wintzengerode received orders every where to 
make preparations for receiving the Emperor, as if 
и 2 


292 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


His Majesty were following the cavalry with the army. 
Kaissarof and Seslavin received the following commis¬ 
sions the former instantly to march to Arcis for a 
twofold purpose; in the first place, to keep up our 
communications with the army of the south ; and, in 
the second, to send parties to Brienne and Montie- 
render, and to keep in communication with Cherni- 
sheff, whom the Emperor had personally ordered to 
watch with all diligence the movements of Napoleon, 
and to communicate them to His Majesty. Seslavin 
was removed to Provins to watch the country between 
Montmirail and Montereau, and, if possible, that be¬ 
tween Fontainebleau and Nemours. From this distri¬ 
bution of the flying detachments, it may be seen, that 
by occupying the roads leading to those places whither 
Napoleon was leading his army, they deprived him of 
the means of communicating with Paris. 

In addition to these dispositions, Prince Volkonsky 
communicated orders directly from His Imperial Ma¬ 
jesty to the different Russian corps attached to the 
army of Silesia, marking out their line of march and 
strictly enjoining “ that on the advance the troops 
should observe all military precautions, and that they 
should not march otherwise than in fighting order, the 
battalions being always in columns of attack.” Cau¬ 
tions of this nature can never be superfluous. Thanks 
to them, in this campaign, our troops were never at¬ 
tacked unprepared, and they became so familiar with 
the service of the advanced posts, that the foreign 
Generals of the allied armies, on being sent with de¬ 
tachments, commonly requested a certain proportion of 
Russian light cavalry to be employed as patrols and in 
the advanced lines. Hardly a movement was made in 


MARCH ON PARIS. 


293 


the Grand Army at the head of which was not to be 
seen Count Pahlen’s cavalry, which even passed from 
under the command of one General to that of another. 

At three o’clock in the afternoon the corps of Gene¬ 
ral Wintzengerode consisting of 8,000 hussars, hulans 
and Cossacks, and 46 guns of the horse-artillery, en¬ 
tered Vitry. These troops marched from thence in 
the direction of St. Dizier, and in the evening at 
Tieblemont overtook the enemy’s rear-guard, with 
which they had a slight skirmish. When this corps 
had quitted Vitry all became quiet in the town in 
which the head-quarters of the Emperor alone re¬ 
mained. In a short time the sky was illuminated by 
the countless fires of the bivouacs along the banks of 
the Marne, where our troops were allowed a short time 
for repose, as some of them were to march on the fol¬ 
lowing morning at day-break. 

When the march-routes were being drawn out in 
order to be sent round on this day along with the 
orders, a coincidence was observed which we cannot 
pass over in silence. The march-routes indicating the 
roads to Paris were written by the same officers of the 
staff who, in the year 1812, had framed those for our 
army when it abandoned Moscow and marched out of 
it by the Riazan road. We now put down on the 
march-routes, Etoges, Epernay, Fere Champenoise, 
Vertus, and other names of French towns ; when near 
the Poklon hills, we had put down those of Bogorodsk, 
Kassimof, Бёгрико^ and Podolsk. It seemed as if a 
whole age of events separated the two epochs, while in 
reality there was only a year and a half between them. 

Napoleon was now withdrawing farther and farther 
from his capital; indeed he left it altogether without 


294 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

defence by sending orders to Marmont and Mortier, 
who were watching the Silesian army, to march through 
Vitry and to close up to him. He himself advanced 
by forced marches to St. Dizier from whence he sent 
detachments of cavalry to Bar-sur-Aube and Chaumont. 
Their unexpected appearance on the line of our com¬ 
munications at first produced an universal alarm, but it 
was of no other advantage to the enemy. The French 
had certainly good reason to think that on our line of 
communications they should capture our hospitals, 
treasure, parks of artillery, and make prisoners of the 
escorts, or disperse them. Here, however, their ex¬ 
pectations were baulketl ; for with the exception of a 
pontoon bridge, some couriers, and ten carts, not a thing 
fell into their hands, although, according to their usual 
custom, they have not failed to publish that on this 
occasion, they captured a prodigious quantity of pro¬ 
visions and ammunition, and made many prisoners. 
The cause of their failure was the extraordinary acti¬ 
vity of the General-Police-Master Ertel. 

When the armies marched to Chalons after the 
combats at Arcis, General Ertel was sent to Bar-sur- 
Aube. He collected the wounded, regimental bag¬ 
gage, parks, and the money-chest in which there were 
millions, sent back the moveable magazine, which was 
already on the way to St. Dizier, and retired with the 
whole to Chaumont, where the Emperor’s baggage 
joined him. Having established order among the 
innumerable carts, (in one division only of the Com¬ 
missariat there were upwards of a thousand) and pro¬ 
perly posted the convoy consisting of one regiment of 
infantry, one of hulans, and two of Cossacks, he now 
retreated along with them towards Langres, andVesoul. 


CONGRESS OF CHATILLON. 


295 


Notwithstanding the Austrian commandants of the 
towns lying on his way refused to assist him with sup¬ 
plies, he not only reached Altkirch in safety, but at 
that place, in the course of a few days, formed out of 
the wounded a detachment of six thousand men to 
which he joined all the parties he fell in with on our 
line of communication. He also sent orders to the 
Russian reserves which were traversing Germany, to 
hasten forward to Altkirch. Infantry, cavalry and 
artillery kept daily arriving at this depot, and their 
numbers in a short time became so considerable, that 
he was able to keep down insurrection in a country 
ready to rise in arms, which the inhabitants were every 
where called on to do by the Generals purposely sent 
to Chaumont and Bar-sur-Aube to assure them that 
Napoleon was pursuing us. On the subject of his 
arrangements General Ertel made'his reports to Count 
Barclay in the Lettish language, being pretty sure that 
if they should happen to be intercepted, not one of the 
French could make out what he had written. 

Not wishing to break the thread of our relation of 
military operations, we alluded but cursorily to Cau- 
laincourt’s return from Chatillon to Napoleon’s head¬ 
quarters, and to the closing of the congress, which was 
preceded by the following circumstances. To the 
rough draft of the treaty which had been communicated 
to Caulaincourt he did not present an answer within the 
prescribed term of ten days, which expired on the 26th 
of February. On that day, instead of an answer, he 
read to the congress some observations on the project. 
In substance and style they resembled those pompous 
discourses which used to be delivered in the French 
senate in praise of Napoleon’s victories, and to prove 


296 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


that his paramount authority in political affairs and his 
conquests were indispensable to the welfare of Europe 
and to the human race. Without touching the sub¬ 
stance of the terms of the peace, he enlarged vaguely 
on the past and present condition of the European 
states and of the future political system. Having heard 
him out, the Ministers told him that his observations 
were fruitlessly leading them away from the end for 
which they had assembled, and that they had neither 
the wish nor the right to enter into historical discus¬ 
sions. Caulaincourt then produced another paper 
which he called a note verhale , which contained nothing 
but the acceptance by the French government of some 
of the articles of the treaty of peace, and of course 
could not be considered as an answer. 

At the following meeting he was asked whether he 
intended to sign the peace on the terms offered, or to 
present a definite answer. Caulaincourt again entered 
into long political reasonings, but he was told that he 
must speak to the question. He then requested to be 
allowed to send a courier for instructions : it was an¬ 
swered that the congress would be considered as closed 
if he did not immediately present the answer required 
of him. Caulaincourt, greatly agitated, as appeared by 
a change in his voice, said, “ that on the following day 
he would present a counter-projectthe 3rd of March 
was fixed for receiving it. With quivering lips and 
trembling hands, he then read a treaty of peace con¬ 
sisting of thirty articles. The majority of them differed 
materially from what the Allies had demanded of Na¬ 
poleon. Perceiving from Caulaincourt’s words that the 
court of the Tuilleries wished merely to gain time, the 
plenipotentiaries declared the congress to be closed. 


MANIFEST OF THE ALLIES. 


297 


Count Stadion then sent Caulaincourt a passport to 
enable him to reach the French army without hindrance. 
On receiving it he requested Count Razumoffsky to 
give him an escort of Cossacks, accompanied by whom 
he set off to rejoin Napoleon. 

Thus ended the Congress, which had opened and 
continued its sittings in the midst of the warlike hurri¬ 
canes which were raging around it. It must not be 
supposed that it ever had the fate of peace and war in 
its hands. The second-rate ministers who composed it 
were mere instruments to execute the orders sent them 
from the head-quarters of the armies. Peace de¬ 
pended not on them, but on success or failure in the 
battle field. 

We have mentioned in the proper place that during 
the Emperor’s stay at Langres when the question was 
discussed whether the Allies should enter into negocia- 
tions with Napoleon, it was resolved to issue a public 
declaration if they should not be brought to a satisfac¬ 
tory conclusion. To give effect to this resolution, the 
Congress being now at end, the following manifest was 
published at head-quarters, in which the march of the 
negociations and their failure are minutely set forth : 

“ The Allied Powers consider it to be a duty which 
they owe to themselves, to their subjects, and to France, 
at the moment the conferences at Chatillon have been 
broken off, to make public the motives which led them 
to enter into negociations with the French government, 
and the causes of their failure. 

“ Military events, to which it is difficult to find a 
parallel in history, overthrew, in the month of October 
last, the monstrous edifice called the French Empire; 
a political structure which had been founded on the 


298 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


ruins of once independent and happy states, enlarged 
by countries torn from ancient monarchies, and upheld 
at the expense of the blood, property, and prosperity of 
a whole generation. Victory having brought the Allied 
Monarchs to the Rhine, they consider it as their duty 
again to lay open to the eyes of Europe the principles 
which formed the basis of their union, and to declare 
their wishes and intentions. Having no views whatever 
of ambition or of conquest, but animated with the sole 
wish to see Europe re-established according to the rule 
of a fair proportion of power among the states, and re¬ 
solved not to lay down their arms till they should have 
obtained the noble object of their efforts, they showed 
the firmness of their purpose by a public act, and im¬ 
mediately made a declaration to the enemy’s govern¬ 
ment in conformity with their unchangeable determi¬ 
nation. 

“ The French Government availed itself of the ex¬ 
plicit declaration of the Allied Courts to express its in¬ 
clination for peace. It was indeed necessary to pre¬ 
tend this desire, in order to justify to the people the 
new sacrifices which were continually demanded from 
them. In the meantime everything proved to the allied 
cabinets that the French Government had merely in 
view to avail itself of the pretended negociations, in 
order to bring over public opinion to its side, and that 
it did not seriously conte'mplate the establishment of 
peace in Europe. 

“ Penetrating these secret intentions, the Allied 
Powers resolved to invade France, in order to conquer 
a peace which they so ardently desired. Numerous 
armies having crossed the Rhine, they had hardly 
passed the frontiers, when the French minister of 


MANIFEST OF THE ALLIES. 


299 


foreign affairs presented himself at the advanced posts. 
From that day forward all the proceedings of the 
French Government have had no other aim but to lead 
public opinion astray, to conceal its real intentions 
from the nation, and to throw on the Allies the odium 
of the miseries inseparable from invasion. 

“ At that time the march of events made the 
Powers feel all the force of a European coalition. 
The principles which had guided the councils of the 
Sovereigns, from the very onset of their alliance for 
the general good, were completely unfolded. Nothing 
stood in the way of a declaration of the conditions in¬ 
dispensable to the reconstruction of the common 
edifice. After a whole series of victories these condi¬ 
tions should not have formed an obstacle to the re¬ 
establishment' of peace. England, the only power 
which was to throw compensation to France into the 
scale of peace, could accurately count the sacrifices 
she was ready to make in favour of the general pacifi¬ 
cation. The Allied Sovereigns had, in short, reason 
to expect that experience would exert its influence 
over the conqueror, now that he was exposed to the 
reproaches of a great nation, and was for the first time 
in his own capital a witness of its sufferings. This ex¬ 
perience was surely enough to make him feel that the 
preservation of thrones is identified with the observance 
of moderation and justice. The Allied Sovereigns, 
however, in their conviction that their consent to treat 
ought not to interfere with the march of military ope¬ 
rations, resolved to continue them while the negocia- 
tions were going on. The history of the past and 
painful recollections had proved to them the necessity 
of this measure. 


300 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


“ Their plenipotentiaries met at Chatillon with the 
plenipotentiary of the French Government. 

“ Their victorious armies soon approached the 
capital. At this moment the Government thought 
only of saving it from hostile occupation. The French 
plenipotentiary received instructions to propose an ar¬ 
mistice on bases similar to those which the Allied 
Courts had considered necessary to the re-establish¬ 
ment of a general peace. He offered the immediate 
surrender of the fortresses in those countries which 
France had agreed to renounce, but with the condition 
that hostilities should be suspended. 

“ The allied courts, convinced by a twenty years’ 
experience, that in negociations with the French 
Cabinet, it was necessary carefully to distinguish be¬ 
tween its apparent and its real intentions, declined the 
proposal of an armistice, but offered at once to sign 
the preliminaries of peace. This would have given 
France all the advantages of an armistice without ex¬ 
posing the Allies to the disadvantage of a suspension 
of hostilities. 

«Tn the meantime, some partial advantages at¬ 
tended the first operations of that army, which had 
been formed under the walls of Paris, out of the flower 
of the present generation, the last hope of the nation, 
and the remains of r million of brave warriors, who 
had fallen on the field of battle, or been abandoned on 
the high-roads from Lisbon to Moscow, as a sacrifice 
to advantages which were foreign to France. 

“ The conferences at Chatillon immediately as¬ 
sumed a new aspect. The French plenipotentiary 
ceased to receive instructions, and was thus unable to 
give an answer to the offers of the allied courts. The 

о 


MANIFEST OF THE ALLIES. 


301 


intention of the French Government appeared plain to 
the Allied Powers, who now resolved to act with de¬ 
cision, consistently with their dignity, their force, and 
the rectitude of their intentions. They instructed 
their plenipotentiaries to present a draft of a prelimi¬ 
nary treaty, containing all the bases which they con¬ 
sidered indispensable to the re-establishment of the 
balance of power, and which, but a few days before, 
had been proposed by the French Government itself, 
when it was doubtless alarmed for its proper existence. 
In this draft were unfolded the principles of the new 
arrangement of Europe. France placed again within 
the boundaries which had been secured to her bv 
whole centuries of glory and prosperity under the sway 
of her kings, was to share with Europe in the blessings 
of freedom,^ national independence and peace. It 
rested with her Government, by one word, to put an 
end to the sufferings of the nation and to restore to it 
peace, colonies, and commerce, with the unshackled 
freedom of its industry. Did her ruler wish for more ? 
The Allied Powers offered to examine, in a spirit of 
pacification, his wishes with respect to a territory which 
was mutually advantageous, but which was without the 
limits of France before the revolution. 

44 A fortnight passed away without an answer from 
the French Government. The plenipotentiaries de¬ 
manded that a term should be fixed for receiving or 
rejecting the conditions of peace. It was left to the 
French plenipotentiary to present his project on the one 
condition, that it should correspond with the spirit and 
substance of the terms proposed by the Allied Courts. 
By mutual consent the 26th February (10th March) 
was fixed on as the term. On its expiring, the French 


302 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


plenipotentiary merely presented notes, the discussion 
of which, instead of accelerating the result aimed at, 
would have fruitlessly drawn out the negociations. At 
the request of the French plenipotentiary, another 
term of a few days was granted him. At length, on 
the 3d (15th) March, he presented a new project, which 
left no doubt that the sufferings of France had not yet 
changed the views of her Government. Returning to 
its former proposal, a demand was now made that 
people, foreign to the spirit of the French nation, 
whom even centuries of French rule could not identify 
with it, should remain an integral part of that empire. 
Frontiers were to be given to France, inconsistent with 
the establishment of a system of equilibrium, and alto¬ 
gether out of proportion with the other great political 
bodies of Europe. France was to retain positions and 
points of attack, by the aid of which she had of late 
years, to the misfortune of Europe and to that of her¬ 
self, overthrown so many thrones and wrought so many 
revolutions. The members of the reigning family in 
France were made to mount foreign thrones; and, in 
short, the French Government, which had so long 
striven to gain the supreme sway over Europe, by 
sowing the seeds of discord, as well as by force of 
arms, was to remain the mistress of the internal rela¬ 
tions, and of the destiny of the European Powers. 

“ Under such circumstances, by continuing the nego¬ 
ciations, the allied courts would have proved them¬ 
selves wanting to every duty they owed to themselves 
—they would have lost sight of the laudable end which 
they had proposed—and the efforts they had made 
would have turned but to the injury of their own people. 
By signing a treaty on the basis of the French project, 


ORDER OF SCHWARZENBERG. 


303 


they would have put arms into the hands of the com¬ 
mon enemy ; they would have deceived the expec¬ 
tations of the nations and abused the confidence of 
their allies. 

“ At a moment so important to the general good, 
the Allied Sovereigns renew their solemn obligation 
not to lay down their arms till th'ey have attained the 
grand object of their alliance. France has herself to 
blame for the evils she is suffering. Peace alone can 
heal the wounds inflicted upon her by that spirit of uni¬ 
versal domination of her Government which is unex¬ 
ampled in history. That peace must be the peace of 
Europe. The time is at length arrived when rulers 
should think of the welfare of their people, fearless of 
foreign influence ; when nations should respect their 
mutual independence, and the laws of society should 
not be exposed to daily revolutions, when property 
should be rendered secure, and commerce free. All 
Europe is animated by one wish, and that wish is the 
expression of the first necessity of all nations. All 
have united for the defence of one cause, and that 
cause will triumph over the only obstacles which it has 
yet to surmount.” 

The close of the Congress was announced to the 
army by Prince Schwarzenberg in an order issued on 
the eve of the Emperor’s departure from Pougy. 

“ Soldiers of the Allied Armies ! 

“ The hope of peace has vanished. Your victories, 
the destruction of whole armies, the ruin of the most 
fertile provinces of France, nothing could induce the 
French Government to return to the ways of modera¬ 
tion and justice. The negociations at Chatillon are 


304 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

ended. Let France be happy and free, but not at the 
expense of the independence and prosperity of othei 
nations. Victors of Culm, Leipsic and Brienne ! 
The eyes of Europe are upon you; the destiny of the 
world is in your hands; but a few days more, and the 
universe will acknowledge you as its saviours.” 


305 


CHAPTER XI. 


The Allies march towards Paris. — Marmont and Mortier repulsed .— 
Battle at Fere Champenoise. — General Pacthod taken prisoner. — The 
French repulsed from Ferte Gaucher. — Approach of the Allies to the 
Marne. 


On the day the Emperor marched out of Vitry for 
Paris, the 13th March, the troops of the contending 
armies were disposed as follows : the Grand Army 
and its reserves formed a half circle of seven versts 
around Vitry, with the exception of Count Giulay who 
was still at Arcis. The corps of the Silesian army, 
viz : Count Langeron’s and Sacken’s, were at Chalons, 
General York’s and Kleist’s at Chateau Thierry, 
Baron Wintzengerode’s at St. Dizier, and his infan¬ 
try, under the command of Count Worontzoff, at 
Chalons. Napoleon, with the main body of his forces, 
was at Joinville, and his rear-guard between that town 
and St. Dizier, Marshals Marmont and Mortier, who 
were marching from the Aisne to join him, were at 
Vitry and Soude St. Croix, and the divisions of Gene¬ 
rals Pacthod and Атё were at Etoges on their route 
from Paris. Thus the enemy’s army was split in two, 
a part of it being led by Napoleon on our line of com¬ 
munications, and the remainder, under the command 


x 


30G RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

of Marshals Marmont and Mortier, and Generals Pac- 
thod and Ашё, between Paris and the allied armies, in 
full confidence that the road was open to them through 
Vitry to join Napoleon. So far were the French Mar¬ 
shals from suspecting that the allied armies were so 
near them, that on the very night on which the Empe¬ 
ror’s head-quarters were at Vitry, Marmont was at Soude 
St. Croix, and his patrols were pushed as far as the 
village of Cole, ten versts distant from our camp. It 
is true that they did not fall in with our troops there, 
but still one cannot help wondering at the carelessness 
of the French Generals, who seem to have paid no 
attention to the vast illumination of the sky produced 
by the countless fires of our bivouacs round Vitry, and 
did not send to ascertain what troops were lying there. 
The total defeat, which they suffered a few hours after, 
was the consequence of their negligence. 

On the 13th both of the allied armies moved on in 
the direction of Paris. That of Silesia marched in 
two columns: Bliicher with the corps of Langeron, 
Sacken and Count Worontzofffrom Chalons to Vertus, 
and York and Kleist from Chateau Thierry to Mont- 
mirail. The Grand Army marched out of Vitry at 
four o’clock in the morning in the following order. 
Raiefsky and the Hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg 
took the lead and were followed by Count Wrede and 
the reserves of Count Barclay. All these troops were 
ordered to reach Fere Champenoise and there to pass 
the night. The advanced-guard under the command 
of the Hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg consisted of 
Wirtemberg and Russian cavalry, the latter being led 
by Count Pahlen. 

On arriving at Cole, Count Pahlen learned that the 


іьа 

і /— I 



Li// 7 ‘У ty_Z.Mileferr'e,oYt 



































I 






BATTLE OF FERE CHAMPENOISE. 307 

French patrols had actually been in the village that 
morning, and that the enemy was in considerable force 
at Soude St. Croix. We soon fell in with the French 
advanced troops. On seeing our forces, they began 
to retire to the position occupied by Marshals Mar- 
mont and Mortier beyond the little river Soude. 
Their infantry was standing there in two lines, having 
the artillery before them which opened a cannonade. 
For want of infantry on our side, it was impossible to 
attack this position in front. Count Pahlen therefore 
marched to turn the left wing, and the Hereditary 
Prince of Wirtemberg the right. Their troops were 
followed by a reinforcement of the second division of 
cuirassiers and some regiments of heavy Austrian 
horse. The French did not wait the result of this 
manoeuvre, but retired to Sommesous, not however with¬ 
out loss, for the advanced-guard followed close at their 
heels, with the horse-artillery in advance, which played 
upon the enemy wherever the ground was favourable. 
Marshal Marmont halted at Sommesous in order to wait 
for Mortier who had passed the night at Vitry, and 
who having learned there that he could not continue 
his march on St. Dizier, began his retreat in good time. 
The fire of the French batteries, placed in front of the 
line of battle, checked the attack for a while, but being 
pressed by repeated attacks of our advanced-guard, 
Marmont retreated to the village of Lenar. Disorder 
was already visible in his corps : on the road to Lenar 
he lost four guns which were taken by Count Pahlen. 

These operations lasted from eight o’clock in the 
morning till mid-day, and were the prelude to the 
battle of Fere Champenoise. The reports which 
Prince Schwarzenberg received from the Hereditary 
x 2 


308 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE, 


Prince and Count Pahlen of their being engaged with 
a powerful enemy who seemed to have much infantry 
and artillery, and the declarations of the prisoners that 
the two Marshals were in the field, induced him to 
send orders to the corps of infantry which were still far 
behind the advanced-guard, to quicken their pace and 
to march in close column. At the same time he or¬ 
dered Count Giulay’s cavalry, which was on its way 
from Arcis to Fere Champenoise, to make all haste 
to advance on the right wing of the French. Count 
Barclay, on his side, wanted to send for the third divi¬ 
sion of cuirassiers, but General Depreradovitch, who 
was standing by, informed him that it was still so far 
distant from the field of battle that it could not come 
up in time, and therefore requested leave to engage 
with the first division of cuirassiers which was under his 
command, and which had as yet taken no part in any 
action in France. The Commander-in-chief having 
given his consent, these chosen troops set off at a trot, 
the chevalier-guards taking the lead. 

Meanwhile Marmont and Mortier had effected their 
junction, and their corps together amounted to 22,000 
men. They had now nothing left but to retreat by 
the high road to Paris ; for they saw that being met 
by the whole of the allied forces, they could not march 
on Vitry as Napoleon had directed. The French 
cavalry, which had kept in advance of the enemy’s 
corps and covered their movements, was soon broken 
and routed by Count Pahlen. It then formed behind 
the infantry which in close column or in square con¬ 
tinued the retreat towards Conantray; but before 
reaching that village, they were met by the hulans and 
dragoons of the guard with whom Count Ojaroffsky 


RETREAT OF THE FRENCH. 


309 


appeared on their extreme left. He was followed by 
the first division of cuirassiers. These regiments, rein¬ 
forced by a troop of the horse-artillery of the guards, 
instantly went up to the attack and broke and cut 
down several French squares. The cavalry which had 
arrived from Spain tried to disengage the infantry, but 
was charged and broken by the chevalier-guards. At 
the same time Count Pahlen, as he continued to ad¬ 
vance, came up with the detachment of Major-General 
Seslavin, who likewise dashed at the enemy. 

These uninterrupted joint operations, at which the 
Grand Duke Constantine was present, were crowned 
with complete success. The enemy rushed in disorder 
through Conantray to Fere Champenoise, strewing the 
road with abandoned guns, ammunition waggons and 
baggage. Lest our description of the flight of the 
French, among whom was a part of Napoleon’s guard, 
should be thought exaggerated, it may be as well to 
quote the words of one of their writers, Koch, who 
like all his countrymen, will not be suspected of par¬ 
tiality to the Allies. He says : 44 the confusion was so 
great, that 24 guns, more than 60 ammunition waggons 
and carts were abandoned before Conantray. Seized 
with a panic terror, artillery, cavalry and infantry fled 
in dёroute to Fere Champenoise.” * Of the artillery 
taken during the attack and pursuit of the enemy, or 
found abandoned, six guns were captured by the cheva¬ 
lier-guards, six by the horse-guards, three by the cuiras¬ 
siers of His Majesty, six by the hulans of the guards, 
two by the life-guards, nine by Major-General Sesla¬ 
vin, and twenty by Count Pahlen. 

* Memoirs pour servir a l’histoire de la campagne de 1814. Par 
Koch, T. III. page 386. 


310 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


From Рёге Champenoise the French took the road 
to Sezanne, marching in columns of battalions with 
the remains of the cavalry in the intervals. The Here¬ 
ditary Prince of Wirtemberg and Count Pahlen con¬ 
tinued to pursue them, but not with the same rapidity 
as before. This happened from two causes : in the 
first place, owing to the ravines between Conantray 
and Рёге Champenoise, the artillery could not keep up 
with the cavalry; in the second, because in the rear of 
the advanced-guard was heard a heavy cannonade, the 
cause of which was not immediately ascertained. The 
French considered it as the signal of Napoleon’s arri¬ 
val on our rear on his way to their assistance. In their 
ranks resounded the cry, once the harbinger of victory, 
of “ Vive ГЕтрегеиг /” The infantry halted, and 
the cavalry, which was in the intervals, advanced to 
the attack, but Seslavin charged it in flank and broke 
it. In the meantime the first division of cuirassiers 
and a part of the artillery were required from the ad¬ 
vanced-guard to be led against French troops which 
had appeared in the rear, and which were marching 
on the Emperor’s head-quarters. Thus ended the 
pursuit of Marshals Marmont and Mortier who owed 
their safety to this unexpected circumstance and to the 
approaching darkness of the night. They halted for 
a few hours at Sezanne to restore order in their shat¬ 
tered corps. Let us now turn to what was going on 
in the rear of the advanced-guard. 

The Emperor, the King of Prussia and Prince 
Schwarzenberg had left Vitry at nine o’clock in the 
morning by the great road leading to Fere Champe¬ 
noise through Soude St. Croix, Sommesous and Conan¬ 
tray. They heard the distant firing which announced 


ADVANCE OF THE FRENCH. 


311 


the retreat of the enemy and our victorious pursuit, 
and messengers were continually arriving from the 
advanced-guard with reports of the captured trophies. 
The sun had not yet set when the Emperor arrived at 
Fere Champenoise where he was to pass the night. 
Most of those who accompanied his Majesty had re¬ 
tired to the quarters assigned to them, but the Emperor 
without dismounting, invited Prince Schwarzenberg to 
accompany him to the advanced-guard. His Majesty 
was followed by a small suite, and by a single squadron 
of the Cossacks of the guards ; for two squadrons of 
that regiment had by His Majesty’s order, remained 
behind with Count Araktcheieff at Sommesous, to pick 
up the wounded French who were lying in great num¬ 
bers on the road. The third squadron was at F£re 
Champenoise making arrangements for the head-quar¬ 
ters. At a short distance from the town, the Empe¬ 
ror met Raiefsky who had halted with his corps; 
further on was the light infantry under Shakhoffskoy. 
The Emperor greeted the troops, and as he went on 
was soon after passed by the horse-artillery, troop 
No. 23, of Colonel Marcoff, who was proceeding to 
the advanced-guard. 

Hardly had the guns passed his Majesty, when an officer 
came galloping on, and to Price Volkonsky’s question, 

‘ whence and whither,’ answered that he was sent from 
Lieutenant-General Kretoff to Count Pahlen with a 
note. The Prince took the paper from him: Kretoff 
warned Pahlen to be on his guard, as the enemy was 
marching on Fere Champenoise. The Field Marshal 
to whom Prince Volkonsky showed the note, doubted 
the accuracy of its contents, and the Emperor told the 
chief of his staff that it was nonsense, and with an air of 


312 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

displeasure added: “ You always see the enemy 
double.” Without paying further attention to this in¬ 
telligence his Majesty went on. All at once, however, 
on the right hand appeared troops who were making 
straight for Fere Champenoise. Their appearance was 
the more unexpected to all, that the direction in which 
they were marching was not the natural one either for 
the Allies or the French. The Emperor and the Field 
Marshal now halted. Desiring to know what these 
troops really were, they sent Major-General Prince 
Volkonsky and the Field Marshal’s aide-de-camp 
Klamm, the same who is now General aide-de-camp to 
the Emperor Ferdinand, to take a near view of them. 
A few minutes had hardly elapsed before they were 
both fired on. Doubt was now at an end : all saw that 
it was the enemy. 

We shall now explain in what way the French thus 
suddenly appeared in the midst of the Allied Armies. 
Early in the morning, when the affair with the cavalry 
of the advanced-guard began, a similar combat took 
place between the cavalry of the army of Silesia and the 
French divisions of infantry of Generals Pacthod and 
Атё. These were on their march from Paris to join 
Napoleon’s army, and had along with them sixteen 
guns, a few squadrons of cavalry, and a vast number of 
carts, with supplies of every kind. By this very road, 
but in the opposite direction, the corps of Langeron, 
Sacken and Worontzoff were marching from Chalons 
to Vertus: the encounter was thus inevitable, though 
it was equally unexpected to us as to the French. Field 
Marshal Blucher, who had no suspicion of the enemy 
being at hand, was in his carriage on his way from 
Chalons and without an escort. He was advancing 


RETREAT OF THE FRENCH. 


313 


by a by-road on a line with his advanced-guard when 
he was told that French light horse were in view. 

General Korf who commanded Count Langeron’s 
advanced-guard which had taken the lead of the Sile¬ 
sian army, was the first who saw the enemy. While 
he was reconnoitring, Generals Pacthod and Ame like¬ 
wise got sight of our light-cavalry, and formed in order 
of battle. Their baggage carts stood behind the infan¬ 
try on its right wing, and the artillery opened its fire. 
In the beginning of the affair, Baron Korf had only four 
guns, the remainder having been prevented from com¬ 
ing up by the breaking down of a bridge. The cavalry 
under his command consisted of fourteen squadrons. 
These he sent to turn the enemy’s flanks and kept the 
French occupied on their front, expecting that the 
troops which were on their march from Chalons would 
speedily come up. The French cavalry were broken 
by the first charge, and disbanding were almost all made 
prisoners by the Cossacks. 

Generals Pacthod and Атё soon perceived that 
reinforcements were coming up to the troops which 
had attacked them, and had perhaps received infor¬ 
mation that the whole army was at hand, and that it 
was impossible for them to make their way to Chalons 
or to Vitry. They therefore struck off in the direc¬ 
tion of Fere Champenoise, halting occasionally as 
they retired, to give time to their immense waggon 
train to move on in good order, though a consider¬ 
able part of it had already been cut'off and captured. 
Baron Korf and Vassiltchikof who had come up with 
the cavalry of Sacken’s advanced-guard, kept bearing 
down on the French both in flank and rear, and several 
times attacked them, but they were manfully received 


314 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


by the enemy who, firing and retreating, continued to 
retire to Fere Champenoise in a direction which brought 
them almost close to the Emperor. 

As soon as his Majesty had ascertained that the enemy 
was before him, he instantly despatched all the officers 
around him with orders to bring up to Fere Champenoise 
whatever troops they should fall in with. He also ordered 
Marcoff to return with his troop of horse-artillery and place 
it under the command of the Prussian General Rauch, 
the same who is now at the head of the engineer de¬ 
partment in that country. The appearance of the 
Emperor and these guns deceived for a few minutes 
both the French and the Russians who were following 
them. The former, from a distance, perceiving the 
Emperor on an eminence, surrounded by a numerous 
and constantly increasing suite consisting of officers and 
escorts from Fer ё Champenoise, thought it was one of 
their marshals come to disengage them, and in their joy 
set up a shout of “ Vive ГЕтрегеиг Г Vassiltchikof 
hearing the noise and observing that a battery was be¬ 
ing planted near the Emperor, the balls of which al¬ 
ready began to reach his hussars, ordered the guns to 
be drawn out and a fire opened against the battery. 
Four Russian balls actually fell on the height where the 
Emperor was standing. Fortunately at this moment a 
Cossack of the guards with his long lance was observed 
on Vassiltchikofs right, from whom he learned the 
real state of the case. The misunderstanding being 
cleared up, he immediately sent to inform his Majesty 
that he was in the rear of the French with the cavalry. 

At the same time an aide-de-camp arrived from 
Baron Korf, by whom the Emperor sent an order to 
that general, not to press too hard on the French who 


DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH. 


315 


had formed in two columns, but to give time for the play 
of the battery planted in their rear; in order to deprive 
the enemy of all possibility of escape, his Majesty at the 
same time ordered Korf to surround them and to watch 
all their motions. When repeated discharges of grape 
had begun to make lanes in one of the enemy’s columns, 
and it was seen to waver, the Emperor gave the order 
to attack ; but at the moment the cavalry was about 
to charge, the French laid down their arms. His Ma¬ 
jesty then ordered the other column to be attacked 
which was done by Lieutenant-General Borozdin who 
captured six pieces of cannon ; but the French forming 
anew, continued to retreat. 

Our numbers kept continually increasing. The 
troops who were still behind the advanced-guard, hear¬ 
ing that the Emperor was in danger, rushed forward 
from every side. Dense clouds of dust darkened the 
air: hussars, hulans, light-dragoons, and cuirassiers 
came up at full trot; and Raiefsky’ infantry in double- 
quick time. In the meantime the French began to 
make their way to the marsh of St. Gond; but 
Lieutenant-General Depreradovitch, advancing with 
the chevalier-guards, and four guns of the horse- 
artillery of the guards, cut off their retreat. The 
Emperor’s aide-de-camp, Rapatel; Captain Durnoff 
of the General Staff; and the King of Prussia’s aide- 
de-camp, Tile,—were sent to require them to surren¬ 
der ; but the French remained inflexible and fired on 
these officers. Rapatel was killed by a bullet from a 
square, in the ranks of which stood his own brother. 
Seeing there was nothing else to be done, the 
chevalier-guards, the hulans, and Cossacks of the 
guards, with Korf’s, Vassiltchikof’s, and Borozdin’s 


316 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


horse, charged the enemy’s infantry at the same 
moment, broke into the square and rode over it. 

The Emperor had entered the square along with the 
cavalry, who attacked it. While the French, some 
swearing and others in tears, were throwing down their 
muskets and stripping themselves of their side-arms, 
cartridge-boxes, and havresacks, the Emperor entered 
into conversation with Pacthod, now a prisoner, who, 
in his answers, kept calling His Majesty “ General.” 
“ You see the Emperor before you,” said I to the 
prisoner. “ That is impossible,” answered he : “ your 
Emperor would certainly never advance in person to 
attack infantry with cavalry alone.” The Emperor, 
who overheard our conversation, desired me not to un¬ 
deceive the French General. Five other generals, 
who had been taken prisoners, were here presented to 
His Majesty. He complimented them on the courage 
they had displayed, ordered their equipages to be re¬ 
stored to them, and the prisoners in general to be 
taken care of; these covered the plain, their number at 
this single point amounting to 4,000. 

Ten thousand prisoners, among whom were nine 
generals, eighty guns, two hundred ammunition wag¬ 
gons, with the whole of the baggage and parks, were 
the trophies of the battle at Fbre Champenoise, in 
which the loss of the Allies amounted to two thousand 
men. This combat is the more remarkable as having 
taken place on a march, without any previous arrange¬ 
ment, between cavalry alone and two corps of infantry. 
By the march route for this day, the troops had been 
ordered to reach Fere Champenoise, a distance of 
thirty versts. Not knowing that Mortier and Marmont 
were at a very short distance from Vi try, nobody had 


ADVANCE OF THE ALLIES. 


317 


thought of falling in with the enemy; yet, though the 
appearance of the French was so unexpected, and the 
troops had been fighting the whole day, they reached 
their destination in good time. Our infantry did not 
fire a shot, but merely followed the cavalry, which 
covered itself with glory. The number engaged 
amounted to 13,000, of which the greater part were 
Russians. The chief honour of the day is due to 
Count Pahlen; he was the first to discover the French, 
and the first to attack them; and he never ceased 
harassing them till the evening. The greater part of 
our trophies was captured by him. 

The victory at Fere Champenoise was peculiarly im¬ 
portant, inasmuch as it hastened the surrender of Paris. 
If Mortier and Marmont had not lost the half of their 
troops in this battle, along with eighty pieces of cannon, 
they would have been able to prolong the contest 
under the walls of Paris, and have given Napoleon 
time to arrive. As it was, he was only a few hours 
too late; but if he had reached Paris in time, he would 
probably have exhausted every means of defence. 
For this reason the defeat of the French at Fere 
Champenoise must be viewed as the harbinger of the 
subjugation of Paris, and of the fall of Napoleon. 

On the following day, the 14th of March, the united 
armies continued to advance. The Grand Army kept 
its former order : the Hereditary Prince of Wirtem- 
berg with his own corps, and that of Rai6fsky, formed 
the advanced guard, which Count Pahlen led with the 
cavalry, having orders to pursue the enemy, and if pos¬ 
sible to reach La Ferte-Gaucher. The remaining 
corps, along with which were the Allied Sovereigns, 
followed after, and were to halt for the night about 


318 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Meillerey and Trefaux. The army of Silesia marched 
by two roads. Count Langeron, Sacken, and Wo- 
rontzoff, from Vertus, on Montmirail; and York and 
Kleist, on La Fert6 Gaucher, where they must neces¬ 
sarily come in contact with the French Marshals, who 
had been beaten the day before, and who were march¬ 
ing thither from Sezanne. Field-Marshal Bliicher 
ordered General Emanuel to advance by forced 
marches to the environs of Meaux, and after choosing 
a proper place, to throw a bridge over the Marne. 

While these preparations were making, to enable 
the armies to continue their march to Paris, the Allies 
did not forget Napoleon, after whom they had sent, as 
we have seen in the preceding chapter, General 
Wintzengerode, with a considerable force of cavalry. 
On the day the Emperor left Гёге Champenoise, a 
report was received from that General, stating, that 
having reached St. Dizier, he had occupied that town, 
and was lying in view of the enemy, whose principal 
forces were concentrated at Vassy, the head-quarters 
of Napoleon. “ We must wait,” said Wintzengerode 
to the Emperor, “ till the French reach Doulevent: 
we shall then be able to ascertain what route they will 
take.” Although it was plain from this report that 
Napoleon did not yet know of the march of the Allies 
on Paris, it was natural to think that he could not long 
remain ignorant of it. For this reason, in order to 
guard our flank and rear from a sudden attack, strict 
orders were sent to our flying parties, who had been 
sent out in various directions, enjoining them to re¬ 
double their watchfulness. “ It is His Majesty’s de¬ 
sire,” Prince Volkonsky wrote to General Chernisheff 
from Рёге Champenoise, “ that you should watch with 


CONDUCT OF THE PKUSSIANS. 


319 


the utmost care the enemy’s motions on your right 
flank, and give us notice of them without delay. 
General Wintzengerode has been instructed to do the 
same. If the French army should turn round upon us, 
he is to unite with you, and by every means to impede 
its march.” In short, the detachments of General 
Chernisheff, Kaissarof, and Seslavin, were so situated, 
that they could, with the greatest ease, inform us 
of Napoleon’s attempts on the rear of the Grand 
Army, or on the left bank of the Seine. 

On the 14th of March, at four o’clock in the morn¬ 
ing, the Grand Army marched from F£re Champe- 
noise, along the high-road to Sezanne. The French 
had decamped in the night, and on approaching Se¬ 
zanne had fallen in unexpectedly, with the Prussian 
cavalry of General Ziethen, who had been sent forward 
from Montmirail, and had an affair with the enemy 
before day-break. This sudden meeting caused an 
alarm both among the Prussian and the French troops. 
Ziethen had entered Sezanne, convinced that the 
French had passed through the town, and the enemy’s 
generals, on their side, thought it was not yet occupied 
by the allied troops. After a trifling skirmish the 
latter continued their march. The grand object was, 
that York and Kleist should reach La Ferte Gaucher 
before the enemy, and bar his retreat. There they 
were to receive Mortier and Marmont, in whose rear 
the Hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg and Raiefsky 
had been sent from Fhre Champenoise. The Prus¬ 
sians marched very slowly to La Fert6 Gaucher. Al¬ 
though twice as near to this point from Montmirail as 
the French were to it from Sezanne, they had not all 
arrived when Mortier appeared with the advanced- 


320 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


guard: yet, after all, a small part of their troops was 
sufficient to arrest the progress of this marshal. He 
tried several times to force his way through La Ferte 
Gaucher, but without success. If York and Kleist 
had come up in time, they would not only have stopped 
the French, but would have gone out and attacked 
them, while the enemy would have been taken in the 
rear by the advanced-guard of the Grand Army. The 
truth is, that towards the end of this campaign, the 
Prussians did not always show the same activity as in 
the preceding year. Fully assured that their country 
was saved, their national honour avenged, and their 
hated enemy humbled, they began to look with some¬ 
thing like indifference on a war, the speedy termina¬ 
tion of which was every day becoming more evident. 

Count Pahlen, marching in advance of the Grand 
Army, always kept in sight of the French rear-guard, 
which sometimes halted, taking advantage of the 
ground and of the streams falling into the river Grand- 
Morin, along which runs the high-road. He, therefore, 
resolved to go round about, and avoiding all the rivu¬ 
lets, bear down on the right wing of the French, and 
press them close up to the Grand-Morin and La Ferte- 
Gaucher, and thus cut off their retreat to Provins, 
which afforded them the only chance of safety or of 
rejoining Napoleon on the left bank of the Seine. 
With this intention, leaving the great road to the right, 
Count Pahlen marched through Courgivaux to Maison- 
celles, where he heard the firing at La FertGGaucher 
between the Prussians and Mortier’s advanced-guard j 
his Cossacks, who were in advance, reached the village 
of Moutis, where the heads of the enemy’s columns 
had already begun to show themselves. 


ESCAPE OF MARMONT. 


321 


An hour or two more and Count Pahlen’s admirable 
manoeuvre would, in all probability, have been crowned 
with complete success: Marmont and Mortier, sur¬ 
rounded on all sides, and attacked in front by the 
Prussians, in the rear by the Hereditary Prince of 
Wirtemberg, and in flank by Count Pahlen, would have 
been forced to surrender or fall with their arms in their 
hands. Even if they had thought of forcing their way, 
their resistance could not have been obstinate; for at 
Fere Champenoise they had lost almost all their artil¬ 
lery, and in both corps, as we afterwards learned, there 
were only seven pieces of cannon. The main result of 
the defeat, which seemed here to await them, consisted 
in this, that there would have been nobody to defend 
Paris, which the Marshals were afterwards allowed to 
reach, and where, before their arrival, there were no 
other troops but the National Guards, skeletons of re¬ 
giments, and recruiting depots ; and thus the capital of 
France must have laid her keys at the feet of the con¬ 
querors/ without firing a shot. Like Napoleon on the 
banks of the Beresina, and at Hanau, Mortier and 
Marmont narrowly escaped total destruction at La Ferte 
Gaucher. 

Count Pahlen had not advanced far in his detour 
when the Hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg was seized 
with apprehensions for the safety of his artillery; for 
on this day he had given an additional number of guns 
to the Count, who, during the combat at Fere Cham¬ 
penoise, had too few. He immediately sent orders for 
him to return to the high road, and the Count, being 
obliged to obey, left the Cossacks alone on the enemy’s 
flank, and returned to his former station in their rear. 
Overjoyed to see him retire, the French no longer ad- 

Y 


322 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


vanced to La Ferte Gaucher, but immediately turned 
off through Courtacon towards Provins, whither they 
were followed by the Cossacks, whom they had forced 
to give way. The corps of the Prince of Wirtemberg, 
and the whole army, continued their march by the high 
road to the Marne. Marmont and Mortier made all 
haste to Provins, where they halted, to give their troops 
some repose ; but they were not allowed long to enjoy 
it. Hardly had Count Pahlen’s Cossacks, under the 
command of General Seslavin, appeared, when the 
French, in the greatest disorder, rushed out of Provins, 
and made the best of their way to Nangis, from whence 
they marched to Paris by two roads, Mortier through 
Guignes, and Marmont through Melun. 

On this day, the 14th March, the Emperor left Fere 
Champenoise at day-break. The troops marched in 
order on both sides of the road ; on the right Raiefsky’s 
corps, and on the left the Wirtembergers. The Aus¬ 
trians and Bavarians were in the second line, and be¬ 
hind them the guards and grenadiers : the columns of 
the army of Silesia were seen like a waving black line 
to the right. The weather was beautiful; the rays of 
a spring sun were reflected from the glittering arms of 
the host, and rendered this triumphant march truly mag¬ 
nificent. A flourish of martial music, and the roll of 
drums, mingled with loud and hearty hurrahs, announced 
the Emperor, as he rode up to every regiment. He 
several times rode through the ranks of the grenadier 
corps and the guards, and greeted the generals and 
colonels of regiments, almost all of whom had been 
formed under his own eye. “ My lads,” said Alex¬ 
ander to the soldiers, “ ’tis now but a step to Paris !” 
He would sometimes ascend an eminence by the way 


MARCH OF THE ALLIES. 


323 


side, and gaze on the serried columns, extending as 
far as the eye could reach, and all pressing forward to 
the completion of their mighty enterprize. On this 
occasion, I cannot but remember a trait, which, to those 
who never had the happiness of knowing the Emperor, 
will serve to know how kind, how gracious he was. 
From one of these heights he observed Prince Volkon¬ 
sky, who, after the remark made to him the day before, 
that “ he always saw the enemy double,” was slowly 
riding on, pensive and alone. The Emperor invited 
him to approach, and, in presence of the King of Prussia 
and a numerous suite, said to him, “ Je vous dots une 
reparation d'honneur .” * “ I offended you yesterday, 

and I now publicly beg your pardon.” 

In the evening, the Emperor and the King of Prussia 
arrived to pass the night in the village of Trefaux, to 
the right of the high road. The Grand Army bivou¬ 
acked round the village, and that of Silesia did the 
same, almost in a line with it, at La Ferte-sous-Jouarre. 
After a short rest, the troops were ordered to make all 
haste, on the following day, to the passages of the 
Marne. There was indeed no time to lose ; the rather, 
that soon after the Emperor’s arrival at Trefaux, ex¬ 
presses arrived from Generals Chernisheff and Kais- 
sarof, with reports that the French army had begun to 
draw towards Brienne, and had occupied Troyes, and 
that Napoleon was believed to have passed the night at 
Bar-sur- Aube. Although no intelligence of his move¬ 
ments had been received from General Wintzengerode, 
who had been more especially charged to watch them, 
still the direction of the French, as pointed out by the 
partizans, gave occasion to various orders from His 

* The words in italics are in the French language in the original. Tr. 

Y 2 


324 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Majesty to the commanders of the flying detachments: 
the greater part of the night was spent in preparing 
them. Their substance is contained in the following 
communication from Prince Volkonsky to General 
Wintzengerode. From its conclusion may likewise be 
seen what the Emperor intended to do, if Napoleon 
should reach Paris at the same time with the allies : 
“I am commanded by His Majesty to inform you, 
that from reports just received from Generals Cher- 
nisheff and Kaissarof, it seems probable that Napoleon 
is marching from Bar-sur-Aube to Troyes. As at that 
town he will have a choice of two roads to Paris, the 
one by Nogent and Pont-sur-Seine, the other through 
Sens and Moret, it is of the greatest consequence that 
our partizans should give us timely notice of his real 
direction. It is His Majesty’s pleasure that you should 
follow Napoleon with all possible activity, and harass 
him day and night on his march, which will consider¬ 
ably weaken his army. Kaissarof and Seslavin will 
receive orders to proceed along the banks of the Seine, 
in order to deprive the enemy of the means of con¬ 
structing bridges. Your chief object is not to lose sight 
of the enemy; and if, as we think, Napoleon should 
advance from Troyes on Sens, Moret and Fontaine¬ 
bleau, you will, by turning his left wing, by the forest of 
Fontainebleau, be always on the enemy’s flank and 
rear, while both our armies, after crossing the Seine at 
Paris, will march to attack him in front.” 


325 


CHAPTER V. 


Affair at St. Dizier.—Wintzmgerode retreats to Chalons.—Critical Posi¬ 
tion of Napoleon.—He resolves to march on Paris.—Napoleon and 
Alexander cross the Marne.—Approach of the Allies to Paris.—The 
Emperor Alexander's Directions to the Allied Armies.—Movements of 
the Allies.—Marie Louise flies from Paris to Tours.—Proclamation of 
the Allies to the Parisians. 


After Marshals Mortier and Marmont had retired by 
the road to Provins, there still remained on the Paris 
road a few scattered parties which had assembled about 
Meaux. They were joined by the division of General 
Compans, who had succeeded in passing through La 
Fert6 Gaucher before the Prussians had occupied that 
town. The road to Paris was now open, and there 
being nothing to impede the march of the allied armies, 
they advanced, on the 15th, towards Trilport and 
Meaux as the most convenient places for crossing the 
Marne ; the army of Silesia from La Ferte-sous- 
Jouarre and the grand army through Coulommiers. 

The Emperor had hardly reached Coulommiers, when 
he received a report from the Prussian Colonel Schvik- 
hoff, commandant of Vitry, that Napoleon, having 
beaten Wintzengerode, was approaching Vitry with all 
his forces. This news was so much the more unex¬ 
pected, as our partizans had not only given us no 
notice of such an event, but on the contrary had in- 


326 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


formed us the day before, that Napoleon appeared to 
be marching on Troyes. 

“ The emperor commands me,” Prince Volkonsky 
thus wrote to Wintzengerode, “ to send you a copy of 
a report just received, from the contents of which you 
will see that events are spoken of, of which we have 
received no information. His Majesty will not attach 
credit to this report till he receive its confirmation from 
you. The enemy’s movement is so completely contra¬ 
dictory of what General Chernisheff has reported, that 
it is absolutely necessary to have this circumstance ex¬ 
plained.” 

In the course of a few hours it was proved, that the 
reports of the commandant of Vitry and General Cher¬ 
nisheff were both correct. Napoleon had marched 
from Doulevante towards Bar-sur-Aube; and some of 
his troops, as Chernish6ff had reported, were actually 
on the road to Troyes ; but receiving no report from 
the rear-guard, commanded by Macdonald, he sent to 
know what was going on there. The marshal answered 
that during three days he had seen nothing but cavalry 
opposed to him, and that he was inclined to think that 
the allies were not following him, and that they had 
marched in some other direction. This induced Na¬ 
poleon to order the army to return and concentre at 
Vassy, in order to make an attack on the allied troops, 
which were following his rear-guard, and thus to ascer¬ 
tain whether Macdonald was right in his conjecture or 
not. 

This occurred on the 13th March, on the day of the 
victory of Fere Champenoise. On the following day, 
Macdonald’s rear-guard stood on the same ground it 
had occupied on the preceding evening. His advanced 


WINTZENGERODE ATTACKED. 


327 


posts were at НетЬёсоигі, beyond which were seen 
large bodies of infantry, but no movement was yet 
visible in the enemy’s camp. Baron Wintzengerode, 
who was at St. Dizier, ordered the advanced guard, 
under Tettenborn, to begin skirmishing, with the view 
of discovering the ulterior plans of the French; Ge¬ 
neral Benkendorf was to support him. The flankers 
had hardly moved out, when the enemy’s advanced 
guard was put in motion, and came on, followed by 
immense columns of infantry, extending as far as the 
eye could reach. It was evident that the French army 
was making a general attack ; and one of Macdonald’s 
aide-de-camps, who was taken prisoner by the Cossacks, 
stated that Napoleon himself was in the field. 

Tettenborn reported this to the commander of the 
corps, and requested that no reinforcements should be 
sent him, the enemy’s numerical superiority being so 
great, that a reinforcement to the advanced guard 
would only block up the road, and prevent it from re¬ 
tiring easily and speedily. The attack of the French, 
indeed, was so rapid, and made with such overpowering 
forces, that it was out of the question to think of 
resisting it. Some regiments of French infantry having 
entered the wood between Hembecourt and Valcourt, 
in order to cut off the advanced guard from the Marne, 
it was obliged instantly to retire to the right bank of 
the river. 

The enemy’s troops deployed with incredible rapi¬ 
dity; column after column descended into the plain, 
and showers of balls and shells fell on the banks of 
the Marne. Under cover of their batteries, placed 
between Valcourt and St. Dizier, the French infantry, 
cavalry and artillery, crossed the Marne by a ford, and 


328 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


moved along the Vitry road against the advanced guard, 
which consisted of about a thousand men, who were 
now cut off from St. Dizier. Ten thousand French 
cavalry had already crossed the Marne, and were be¬ 
ginning to form on the right bank of the river. With 
the view of checking their attack for a moment, Tet- 
tenborn resolved to fall upon them before they had 
completed their formation. In the heat of the attack 
he came upon the French batteries, was met by their 
fire, and at the same time surrounded by the horse of 
the rear lines, which fell upon his flanks and broke 
them. A whole cloud of horse, in one confused mass, 
with cries and shouts, now scampered along the Vitry 
road, riding straight upon the baggage and spare horses, 
which made the confusion still greater. The pursuit 
ended at the village of Perte, where Tettenborn col¬ 
lected his detachment, and retired towards Vitry. 

Having routed the advanced guard, Napoleon turned 
against General Wintzengerode, who, during the affair 
we have been describing, had formed between the 
Vitry and Bar-le-Duc roads. He had only about 5000 
horse, the remaining 3000 being with Tettenborn and 
Chernish£ff; the latter was on this day on the road to 
Montierander, to the right of the corps. Wintzen- 
gerode’s left flank was covered by General Benken¬ 
dorf, who, during the rout of the advanced guard, had 
contrived to make his way through St. Dizier, and to 
occupy the road to Bar-le-Duc, the only route by which 
our corps could now retreat. One French battalion 
was already marching to occupy it, but was broken and 
routed by two squadrons of hussars, under the com¬ 
mand of Colonel Alferief, whom Benkendorf had sent 
against it, Benkendorf then placed a few guns on the 


WINTZENGERODE ROUTED. 


329 


Bar-le-Duc road, which kept the enemy at a respectful 
distance, and thus secured a retreat for the corps. 

Napoleon’s attack on General Wintzengerode was 
as severe and as successful as it had been an hour before 
against the advanced guard; our cavalry was broken 
in the centre, and not even the bold attacks of Count 
O’Rourke and General Balk could arrest the enemy. 
They were hardly allowed time to fire a few rounds : 
in a few minutes cavalry and artillery were fairly routed. 
“ Tout fut entraine et dut ceder,” said General Wint¬ 
zengerode, in his report to the Emperor. Our regi¬ 
ments in disorder now made for the road to Bar-le- 
Duc, on which, as we have said, General Benkendorf 
had taken up a good position. There being a morass 
on his right flank, it could not be turned, and he had 
placed three regiments of Cossacks, under the com¬ 
mand of Major General Narishkin, to protect his left. 
Napoleon made every effort to overpower Benkendorf’s 
detachment, which was now the only obstacle to a 
vigorous pursuit. Two squadrons of the hussars of 
Izewm, under the command of Colonel Loshcareff, in 
advance of the position, were instantly attacked and 
broken ; but six squadrons of the hussars of Pavlo- 
grad, and the well directed discharges of the artillery, 
checked the advance of the French, and enabled Ge¬ 
neral Benkendorf to retire, in good order, along the 
Bar-le-Duc road to the village of Brillon, where the 
approaching darkness induced the French to give up 
the pursuit. In the mean time, thanks to Benken¬ 
dorf’s obstinate defence, the remainder of the corps 
assembled round Bar-le-Duc, from whence, on the fol¬ 
lowing day, they continued their retreat towards Cha¬ 
lons. Our loss on this day amounted to a thousand 


330 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


men killed or taken prisoners, and five pieces of can¬ 
non. The heaviest loss was sustained by the 6th 
regiment of light infantry ; yet more than a half of 
the men, who were supposed to have been made pri¬ 
soners, were fortunate enough to make their way through 
the woods, and to rejoin the corps. If Benkendorf 
had not retired in good time from the Enhanced guard 
through St. Dizier to the Bar-le-Duc road, and there 
resisted the furious attack of the French, Napoleon 
would have met with no obstacle in that direction, and 
pursuing the broken troops, would have made their 
defeat still more disastrous: the corps owed its safety 
entirely to the judicious dispositions and cool resolu¬ 
tion of Benkendorf. 

This success at St. Dizier was the farewell smile of 
fortune to Napoleon. From that moment she aban¬ 
doned him for ever. This was also the last combat of 
the campaign, in which he commanded in person, and 
in which, while standing on the extreme verge of his 
career, he was destined to meet the troops of Alexan¬ 
der, as if to impress indelibly on his memory that he, 
and he alone, was the true author of his fall. Victory 
perhaps was never accompanied by bitterer disappoint¬ 
ment than at the present moment; for it raised the 
curtain which had concealed futurity from Napoleon. 
He now learned that his manoeuvre, on the communi¬ 
cations of the allies, had not only failed to draw the 
Allied Sovereigns after the French to St. Dizier, as 
he had expected, but had inspired the Emperor Alex¬ 
ander with the idea of marching on Paris. The pri¬ 
soners at length confirmed this painful news, which at 
first he refused to believe, proving that, in spite of all 
his strength of character, he too shared the common 


POSITION OF NAPOLEON. 


331 


failing of mortals, who seeing destruction before their 
eyes, willingly deceive themselves for a time, in the 
fond hope that the cup of evil is not yet full, and that 
the torch of safety is not altogether extinguished. 

The fatal news of the march of the allies on Paris 
being altogether unexpected to Napoleon, threw him 
into a momentary state of inaction. He walked in 
silence over the field of battle, and ordering such of 
the Russian officers and men as wore badges of dis¬ 
tinction to be assembled, he went up to them, spoke 
kindly with them, praised their valour, and ordered the 
wounded to be taken care of. He likewise sent Ge¬ 
neral G6rard to make enquiries after the wounds of 
Colonel Loshcareff, the same who had been bred to 
the profession of arms under the eye of Dorokhoff, 
whom our old hussars have certainly not forgotten. 

On returning to St. Dizier, Napoleon looked long 
and carefully over the map of the theatre of war. It 
seemed as if the declarations of the prisoners had not 
convinced him ; for on the following day he marched 
towards Vitry, perhaps not without some hope of fall¬ 
ing in with the Allied Armies. On reaching that town 
he called for its surrender, but receiving a refusal, he 
ordered 120 guns to be planted against it, and gave 
notice to the commandant that he was going to reduce 
the town to ashes. At this moment some of the inha¬ 
bitants of the environs of Fere-Champenoise presented 
themselves, from whom he learned the news of the 
victory gained there by the allies, and of their advance 
along the road to Meaux. The spell was now fairly 
broken, and all doubt at an end. u Nothing but a 
thunderbolt can save us,” exclaimed he to those around 
him. Not a shot was fired from the guns which were 


332 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


turned against Vitry. Of what advantage would the 
possession of that town have been to Napoleon, while 
the storm of destruction was hanging over Paris, and 
when he was in hourly expectation of hearing of its 
fall ? He immediately ordered his army to march on 
the capital; but from the agitation of the moment, or 
from some other cause not yet discovered, he did not 
take the nearest road from Vitry to Paris through Se¬ 
zanne, or through Ramerupt and Troyes, but chose the 
longest route by St. Dizier, Vassy, Troyes and Sens. 

Thus, at one and the same time, Alexander and 
Napoleon were marching on Paris, where each of these 
mighty rivals hoped to have the chances of war on his 
side, and both crossed the Marne with the same inten¬ 
tion ; the former at Trilport and Meaux, the latter at 
St. DiZier. 

The putting up of the bridge at Meaux had been 
entrusted to General Emanuel, who for that purpose 
had been detached, on the 14th March, from the Sile¬ 
sian army, with two regiments of infantry, the Kief 
dragoons, two companies of pioneers, 18 guns, and 
Colonel Ivanof’s company of pontooneers. His route 
lay through La Ferte-sous-Jouarre, which was occu¬ 
pied by the enemy. Here a pretty warm affair oc¬ 
curred with the French, in which some battalions of 
Prussians, who had joined General Emanuel, took 
part. The enemy were beaten and forced to cross the 
Marne. While the combat was going on, the general 
sent forward the pontoons to Trilport, and, after driving 
the French out of La Fert6-sous-Jouarre, hastened 
thither with the remainder of the detachment. 

On the 15th March General Emanuel reached Tril¬ 
port, where he found that the opposite bank of the 


THE ALLIES CROSS THE MARNE. 


333 


Marne was but, feebly guarded by the enemy, who had 
not expected the allied troops to arrive so soon, think¬ 
ing, probably, that the detachment stationed at La 
Ferte-sous-Jouarre would hold out longer. His batter¬ 
ies soon cleared the bank of the French. During the 
cannonade, and while the bridge was being thrown over, 
the Cossacks, and two companies of infantry, were fer¬ 
ried across on a raft, when they instantly attacked 
and occupied a wood. The enemy, on learning this, 
sent out infantry from Meaux, planted cannon on the 
heights, and opened a fire on the bridge and the co¬ 
lumns, which were standing underarms on the opposite 
bank, in readiness to cross. A few columns of French 
infantry now advanced to the bridge and to the wood, 
which was occupied by our two companies. To rein¬ 
force the latter, General Emanuel sent over by the raft 
the regiments of Archangel and Staro-Ingermanland, 
which charged with the bayonet, and routed the French. 
In the mean time, the pontoons gliding down the Marne, 
were made fast one after another, and the bridge soon 
groaned under the weight of five battalions of Prus¬ 
sians, who, crossing to the opposite bank, attacked the 
enemy. They were followed by the dragoons of Kieff. 
After forming under the fire of the French, this regi¬ 
ment advanced to turn them, charged their horse, and 
pursued them to the suburbs of the Meaux, to which 
their infantry also speedily retreated. Night put an 
end to the combat, and General Emanuel posted his 
troops on the heights which had been occupied by the 
enemy. In this way was surmounted the last natural 
obstacle which covered Paris. 

While this was going on, the Emperor was at Cou- 
lommiers, which he left on the 16th for Queney, where 


334 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


lie was obliged to spend the whole day, waiting till the 
army should have passed the Marne ; for the passage 
was not effected so soon as had been expected. This 
arose not so much from the great number of the troops 
as from misunderstandings inseparable from the com¬ 
position of the Allied Armies, which w r ere formed of 
the troops of six different powers. Reports having 
reached the Emperor that acts of plunder had been 
committed by some of the allied troops, he ordered the 
generals to be reminded of the necessity of being 
doubly strict at so critical a moment as that of the con¬ 
cluding scene of a long and general war. To this effect 
the Head of His Majesty’s staff, Prince Volkonsky, 
addressed the following circular order to the generals 
in command of corps :—“ It is the immutable will of 
His Majesty the Emperor, that the troops under your 
command should observe the strictest discipline, and, 
on no account whatever, leave the bivouacs in order to 
go into the villages ; and that their wants, such as fire, 
wood, straw, &c. should not be supplied otherwise than 
through the intervention of the mayors. You cannot 
but be aware how much the good conduct of our troops, 
in the present circumstances, may influence the com¬ 
mon success, and therefore His Majesty will hold you 
personally responsible for the observance of this order.” 

Not satisfied with giving orders to the Russian gene¬ 
rals with respect to the observance of discipline, His 
Majesty directed to the same object the attention of the 
foreign commanders of corps. The following letter 
was written by His Majesty’s own hand to Count 
Wr6de :—“ At the moment we are approaching the 
walls of Paris, it is only by the strictest subordination 
among the troops that we can expect to obtain the im- 


PROGRESS OF THE ALLIES. 335 

portant results we have in view. You were one of the 
first to be convinced of the necessity of gaining over 
the affections of the inhabitants of Paris to the cause 
we are defending ; but we shall be acting in the face of 
this conviction if the villages round Paris be left a prey 
to plunderers, instead of finding protection in our 
armies. Your principles are to me a sufficient assur¬ 
ance of the good order which, at the present decisive 
moment, you will cause to be observed in the corps 
under your command. I most earnestly engage you 
to use every possible means to prevent acts of violence. 
Every commander of a corps or detachment should be 
made personally responsible for whatever disorder may 
be committed. Your active exertions, on this occa¬ 
sion, will secure you the general gratitude, and double 
the high respect I entertain for you.” 

The whole of the 16th, and a part of the 17th, were 
employed in transporting the armies across the Marne, 
by three pontoon bridges, of which there were two at 
Trilport and a third at Meaux. The advanced guard 
of the army of Silesia, reinforced by the corps of Gene¬ 
rals York and Kleist, moved forward, and got engaged 
in a warm affair at Claye and Ville-Parisis. The ar¬ 
rangements for the advance were, that as soon as 
Ptaicfsky’s corps should reach Claye, Bliicher should 
strike off on the right to the Soissons road, and attack 
Paris both by that road and through St. Denis, while 
the Grand Army should march on Paris straight from 
Meaux through Claye and Bondy. By way of pre¬ 
caution, Count Wred6, with his own corps and Gene¬ 
ral Sacken’s, was left at Meaux to keep Napoleon at 
bay, if he should have followed the Allied Armies, with 
the intention of attacking them in the rear. 


33G 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


At day-break on the 17th, the Emperor, the King of 
Prussia, and Prince Schwarzenberg, left Quincy for 
Meaux. From the latter town the Sovereigns went on 
to Claye, beyond which, on both sides of the road, 
stood the Russian advanced guard, which welcomed 
the Monarchs with joyful acclamations. As the coun¬ 
try between Meaux and Claye had not yet been the 
theatre of war, flourishing villages, corn stacks, beau¬ 
tiful gardens, and country houses, were to be seen on 
every side. Here and there stood the inhabitants, gaz¬ 
ing, in mute astonishment, on the allied troops. They 
could not comprehend how we had got amongst them ; 
for the French Government had succeeded, by means 
of lying proclamations, in convincing the good people 
in the environs of Paris, that the war would respect 
them. 

At Meaux the Emperor reviewed Sacken’s corps, 
and thanked him and the troops for their services, and 
for their patience under fatigue and privation. There 
were 6000 men under arms, being less than a third 
of the number that had crossed the Rhine. They 
w T ere by no means remarkable for a brilliant exterior ; 
for, during the two last campaigns, and especially in 
France, they had been continually fighting or march¬ 
ing. In some of the gun-carriages might even be ob¬ 
served the wheel of a farmer’s cart. But these defi¬ 
ciencies, which could soon be supplied, were compen¬ 
sated by the glory which the corps had earned. Those 
admirable troops might boldly have been compared to 
the best of Caesar’s legions. From the advanced guard 
the Monarchs went on to the advanced posts, which 
were placed in front of Ville-Parisis, and there, from a 
wooded height, discovered from four to five thousand of 


ADVANCE ON PARIS. 


337 


the enemy, consisting partly of troops belonging to 
General Compan’s division, and partly of reinforce¬ 
ments from the capital. The troops on both sides 
stood looking at each other without firing, the attack 
from our side being delayed till the arrival of Raiefsky’s 
advanced guard which was to relieve the Prussians. 
At mid-day it came up, when, agreeably to the previous 
dispositions, the armies moved on in three columns; 
the right under Bliicher marched on Могу, Villepin 
and Dugny; the left, under the command of the 
Hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg, consisting of His 
Highness’s corps and that of Count Giulay, along the 
Marne from Charmantray through Chelles towards 
Vincennes; and the centre commanded by Count 
Barclay, and consisting of Raiefsky’s corps, the 
grenadiers and the guards, by the great road to 
Bondy. 

The French did not seem inclined to retire from 
the forest of Bondy without making resistance, for 
they did not move, notwithstanding the advance of 
the allied troops. The Emperor himself, ordered 
Raiefsky’s advanced guard to divide ; Count Pahlen 
with the cavalry, and Helfreich’s division of infantry, 
to march round to the left through Couberon, Mont- 
fermeil, and Raney, towards Romainville; and Prince 
Eugene of Wirtemberg, straight on the forest. The 
French received the Prince with a fire of musketry, 
but soon began to retire, so that the occupation 
of the forest was not attended with much bloodshed. 
The French only halted occasionally where the nature 
of the ground was favourable. 

The Sovereigns followed the advanced guard 
through the villages of Vanjour and Livry, which 
z 


338 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

they found had been plundered by our light infantry* 
From thence they turned to the left, and ascended an 
eminence by a path through brushwood, to the 
village of Clichy. The sun had just set, and a cool 
breeze refreshed the air after the heat of the day; 
there was not a cloud in the sky. All at once, on the 
right hand, we got a momentary glimpse of Mont¬ 
martre, and the lofty towers of the capital. “ Paris ! 
Paris!” was the instant and general exclamation. 
Every one kept straining his eyes while pointing out 
to his neighbour, the huge but indistinct mass rising 
above the horizon. Forgotten in a moment were the 
fatigues of the campaign, wounds, fallen friends and 
brothers, while filled with extasy, we stood on the hill 
from which Paris was barely visible in the distance. 
Since that day, more than twenty years have passed 
away—the personal relations of all of us have suf¬ 
fered many changes—there remains not one of us 
whose soul has not been afflicted by grievous losses, 
and the talisman of whose youthful happiness has not 
been broken ; but the remembrance of that memorable 
scene is still so vivid, that it comes over us with all the 
freshness of a recent event, making the heart swell 
with that triumphant exultation which then filled every 
bosom. If we, simple officers, felt as it were intoxi¬ 
cated with pleasure, what must have been the feelings 
of the two monarchs—of the one on whom the iron 
hand of an arrogant conqueror had lain heavy for six 
long years— and of the other who had so lately 
wandered alone in the shady solitudes ol the isles of 
the Neva, to conceal the anguish he felt on the fall of 
Moscow! 

Having enjoyed the magnificent prospect spread 


ADVANCE ON PARIS. 


339 


out before them, the sovereigns descended the emi¬ 
nence, and went on to the advanced guard, where 
Prince Eugene of Wirtemberg, and Count Pahlen 
kept pressing hard on the enemy. Count Langeron, who 
was marching at the head of the columns of the army 
of Silesia, had fallen in with the left wing of the 
French rear-guard at Le Bourge and Obervilliers, and 
chaced it before him beyond the canal of the Ourcq 
towards Pantin. The enemy was thus thrown back 
almost to Paris, and consequently farther than had 
been expected on that day. For this reason, the 
Emperor and the King of Prussia, gave up their in¬ 
tention of passing the night at Clichy, and ordered 
preparations for head-quarters to be made beyond that 
village at Bondy, the last post station on the road to 
Paris. 

Towards evening, as they approached the capital, 
the French became more obstinate in their defence, 
but they were obliged to give way to the generals of 
our advanced guard. Prince Eugene of Wirtemberg, 
even reached Romainville ; but as Bliicher and the 
Hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg were not yet 
come up into line with the Grand army, Prince Eugene 
received orders to return to Poisy-le-sec, and take 
post in an interval left for him in the order of battle. 
At a late hour in the evening when the affair was over, 
Ra^fsky, perceiving that the enemy had retreated to a 
considerable distance beyond Pantin and Romainville, 
and that these villages, lying between the contending 
armies were unoccupied, sent General Helfreich’s 
division of infantry to take possession of them. This 
measure of precaution did honour to the military eye 
of Ra^fsky, as was proved by the great advantage 
z 2 


340 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


we derived from it during the combat on the following 
morning. 

On this day, there were none but Russian troops 
engaged, while the French rear-guard was in a great 
measure composed of Poles. On the plains of 
Russia were bleaching the bones of those legions 
which had conquered Holland, Switzerland, Germany, 
Italy, and Egypt, bearing the Imperial eagles in 
triumphant procession through every country of conti¬ 
nental Europe, and the defence of Paris was now en¬ 
trusted to foreign bayonets. The Poles indeed might 
well be considered to be the flower of the enemy’s 
troops. Strange destiny of the Slavonic race ! The 
united forces of Europe, led by a Slavonic Tsar, 
were now advancing to the attack of that capital, the 
conquest of which re-established universal peace, while 
its defence was entrusted to the sons of a Slavonic 
tribe! 

Ra^fsky’s advanced troops were posted at Pantin 
and Romainville, and his corps at Poisy-le-sec ; the 
guards and reserves were at Ville-Parisis, the Here¬ 
ditary Prince of Wirtemberg and Count Giulay 
at Annet, Bliicher with the army of Silesia at Aulnay, 
Le Bourge, and Vilepente. From the balcony of the 
castle of Bondy, where the Emperor halted for the 
night, were to be seen the countless fires lighted in 
front of the bivouacs of the allied armies, and on the 
heights occupied by those of the enemy, whose 
numbers were this evening increased by the arrival of 
Marshals Mortier and Marmont; it was one blaze of 
light all around. 

It was now resolved to attack the enemy at day¬ 
break, and, after carrying the heights which commanded 


THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. ЗЦ 

the capital, to offer terms of capitulation. The least 
delay might give the French generals the means of 
drawing to their standard the troops scattered around 
Paris, to fortify, in some measure, the villages and 
heights, and to arm the national guard; and even 
Napoleon himself might arrive in time to throw his 
weight into the scale. Some were inclined to think 
that the bloodshed would be terrible, and that the 
inhabitants of Paris would bury themselves under the 
ruins of their city ; others maintained that Paris should 
not have been defended on the heights of Belleville 
and Montmartre, but on the banks of the Rhine, and 
expected a speedy surrender. 

In the bivouacs all was now still, and when the 
arrangements for the attack were completed at head¬ 
quarters, even there all retired to rest, except Alex¬ 
ander. Could sleep close his eyes on the eve of a 
day which was to crown his enterprize for the salvation 
of Europe ? The thoughts of all of us were exclusively 
bent on the subjugation of Paris ; but he had to medi¬ 
tate on other, and not less important, subjects, which 
reposed exclusively on his combinations, and the at¬ 
tainment of which was indispensable to the success of 
his mighty undertaking. The field of his labours was 
truly vast; the establishing and ordering of a line of 
communications with the Netherlands, measures of 
precaution against the sudden approach of Napoleon, 
and finally a world of political considerations which 
must necessarily present themselves on his arrival at 
Paris. His Majesty spent the greater part of the night 
in giving the necessary instructions to Prince Volkonsky 
and Count Nesselrode. Among other things, the lat¬ 
ter was commanded to avail himself of the earliest 


342 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


favourable opportunity for entering into negotiations 
with the enemy for the surrender of Paris. 

With respect to Prince Volkonsky, we shall here 
give a few of the imperial orders sent round by him in 
the course of this night. “ It is His Majesty’s plea¬ 
sure,” he thus wrote to Field Marshal Bliicher, “ that 
at five o’clock to-morrow morning you attack Mont¬ 
martre, and take it. The grand army will attack the 
heights beyond Romainville. His Majesty is of opinion 
that the storming of those two points will facilitate the 
negociations which he intends to open with Paris. It 
is further His Majesty’s pleasure, that you order Gene¬ 
ral Sacken to send three battalions of infantry to Tril- 
port for the security of the bridges there, and that 
when the whole of the cavalry and train shall have 
passed the Marne, to take away two of the bridges, and 
leave only the third for the passage of the detachment 
left at La Ferte-sous-Jouarre. To secure our com¬ 
munications with the Netherlands, the only road left 
us is that by Compiegne and La Fere : you will thus 
see the necessity of losing no time in taking possession 
of Compiegne, in order to secure the communication 
in question.” 

“ Our armies are before Paris,” writes Prince Vol¬ 
konsky to the Duke of Weimar : “ to-morrow we shall 
attack, with the hope of success. As our line of com¬ 
munications is now being established on the Soissons 
and Compiegne roads, it is of the greatest consequence 
that these should be kept open. General Billow has 
been appointed to this service; but as the forces he 
has now under his orders are insufficient, it is His Ma¬ 
jesty’s pleasure that, without losing a moment, you 
should detach General Borstel to his aid, with all the 


POSITION OF THE ALLIES. 


343 


troops which belong to Blilow’s corps. It is likewise 
the Emperor’s wish that you should begin to act vigor¬ 
ously on the offensive, as it is said in the reports of the 
minister-of-war to Napoleon, which have just been 
intercepted, that General Maison, having not more 
than 5000 men under his command, is in great fear of 
being attacked by you.” 

Of Napoleon, nothing like credible information was 
received on this day, the reports brought in contradict¬ 
ing each other; but as it was not natural to think that 
he was remaining in a state of inaction, the Emperor 
ordered various routes to be given to our flying detach¬ 
ments. General Chernisheff received orders to send 
parties through Sens, on the road to Fontainebleau, 
“ it being very possible,” as he was told, “ that Napo¬ 
leon, on learning our march, will have made all haste 
to reach Paris, which it is highly necessary to prevent 
him from doing.” Major-General Ilovaisky (12th,) was 
ordered to cross to the left bank of the Marne, at the 
village of Villiers, on the 18th March, and to send 
parties as far forward as possible along the roads to 
Lagny, Croice, Tournans, and Brie-sur-Yeres, in order 
to get the earliest intelligence of Napoleon’s motions, 
it being stated in some reports that he was advancing 
from Vitry through Sezanne. “ Send patrols from 
the mouth of the Marne up the Seine, along the right 
bank,” wrote Prince Volkonsky to him, “ in order to 
ascertain where the bridges are, and whether the 
French are putting up new ones, and connect yourself 
with Major-General Seslavin, with whom you will keep 
up an uninterrupted communication.” 

The Prince wrote thus to Seslavin : “ It is His 
Majesty’s order, that you not only clear the right bank 


344 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


of the Seine from Pont-sur- Seine to Melun, but en¬ 
deavour to act by means of parties along the road from 
Paris to Fontainebleau to Moret and Nemours. If 
possible confer with Kaissarof, who is posted at Arcis; 
and, giving up to him the care of watching the right 
bank of the Seine, cross over with your whole detach¬ 
ment to the left bank, between Montereau and Paris. 
There you will act with great advantage, by procuring 
intelligence of the enemy’s movements, if it should be 
Napoleon’s plan to approach Paris on that side. Re¬ 
double your watchfulness over the conduct of your 
detachment, in order not to stir up the people against 
us: one severe example will suffice to repress dis¬ 
order.” 

The true state of the campaign, which the French 
government had all along carefully concealed in their 
eternal bulletins of Napoleon’s pretended victories, 
gradually began to be visible to the people of Paris. 
The inhabitants of the nearest villages fled in search 
of safety to the capital, where they announced the 
approach of the numerous allied armies, which the 
police of Paris was still representing as mere flying 
parties cut off by Napoleon, and casually drawn on 
towards Paris. But from the government, properly so 
called, the real state of matters had not been kept 
secret, and as soon as Alexander’s arrival at Meaux 
was known on the 16th, the council assembled at the 
residence of Maria Louisa, and was attended by the 
chief dignitaries of the empire. 

The Minister-at-War laid open the danger which 
threatened the capital, counted the feeble means in their 
power for its defence, and stated that Napoleon’s speedy 
arrival was not to be expected. The question was now 


PROCLAMATION OF THE ALLIES. 


345 


put: “ Shall the Empress remain in Paris, or leave it ?” 
The majority were in favour of her staying in the capital; 
but Napoleon’s brother Joseph produced a letter from 
him, in w T hich it was said, that owing to the difficulty of 
communicating with Paris, he might find it impossible 
to decide, in proper time, on every case that occurred, 
but that he should consider it as the greatest misfortune 
that could befal him, if his son and consort were to fall 
into the hands of the enemy. He therefore gave it as 
his positive order, that on the approach of the Allies, 
the Empress should leave Paris for Rambouillet, and 
from thence proceed to Tours. As this letter left no 
room to doubt of Napoleon’s will, the Council unani¬ 
mously resolved on Maria Louisa’s departure, which 
accordingly took place on the 17th, in the morning, at 
the moment Alexander, with the advanced guard, was 
approaching the forest of Bondy. She was followed 
by the Ministers, the Members of the Council of State, 
and the treasure. The seat of Government was re¬ 
moved to the banks of the Loire, and Joseph Bona¬ 
parte remained as commander-in-chief at Paris. We 
cannot resist quoting the words used by a certain dig¬ 
nitary, when speaking of Napoleon after the Council 
was over : “ Quelle chute ! Donner son nom a des 
aventures, au lieu de le donner a son siecle !” In or¬ 
der completely to prevent every misunderstanding on 
the part of the Parisians, Prince Schwarzenberg, on 
this memorable night, and with the approbation of the 
Allied Sovereigns, addressed the following proclama¬ 
tion to them :—“ Inhabitants of Paris! The Allied 
Armies are under your walls. The object of their 
march to the capital of France is founded on the hope 
of a sincere and durable pacification with her. For 


34 6 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

twenty years Europe has been deluged with blood and 
tears. Every attempt to put an end to these calamities 
has proved vain ; for this reason, that in the very govern¬ 
ment which oppresses you there has ever been found 
an insurmountable obstacle to peace. Who among you 
is not convinced of this truth ? The Allied Sovereigns 
desire to find in France a beneficent Government, 
which shall strengthen her alliance with all nations; 
and therefore, in the present circumstances, it is the 
duty of Paris to hasten a general pacification. We 
await the expression of your opinion with a degree of 
impatience proportioned to the mighty consequences 
which must result from your determination. Declare 
it, and it shall at once find defenders in the armies stand¬ 
ing before your walls. Parisians ! The state of France, 
the proceedings of the inhabitants of Bordeaux, the 
peaceable occupation of Lyons, and the real sentiments 
of your countrymen, are known to you. In these ex¬ 
amples you will find the end of war and domestic dis¬ 
cord ; it is to be found no where else. The preserva¬ 
tion of your city, and of your tranquillity, shall be the 
object of the prudent measures, which the Allies will 
not fail to take, in concert with such of your authorities 
as enjoy the general confidence. Troops shall not be 
quartered in the capital. Such are the sentiments with 
which Europe, arrayed before your walls, now addresses 
you. Hasten to justify her confidence in your patrio¬ 
tism and prudence.” 


347 


CHAPTER VI. 


The Allied Army reaches the Neighbourhood of Paris.—Marshals Mar - 
mont and Mortier defend the City.—The Emperor Alexander 1 s Interview 
with a French Prisoner.—Battle of Paris.—Joseph Bonaparte quits 
Paris.—The French offer to submit.—Montmartre stormed. — Negocia- 
tions with the French.—Capitulation of Paris.—Napoleon returns to 
Fontainebleau.—Caulaincourt sent with full Powers to treat with the 
Allies.—Evening of the \Sth of March.—Order of the Allied Troops on 
entering Paris. 


On the East side of Paris, by which the Allies ap¬ 
proached it, the ground is eminently favourable for 
defence. The stone houses of the villages, the churches, 
walls, gardens, ravines, and canals, offer, at every step, 
natural defences, behind which a small body of troops 
may successfully keep numerous forces in check. In 
this quarter are heights of considerable elevation at 
Romainville and Belleville, standing detached, and com¬ 
manding the environs. There are also points, for ex¬ 
ample Montmartre, which were reckoned impregnable, 
till our double eagle soared over them. In these works, 
however, nature had received no aid from art. Napo¬ 
leon, who paid more attention than most other great 
commanders to the engineer department, and who him¬ 
self marked out situations for fortresses and field works, 
descending into the minutest details, had, in this re¬ 
spect, neglected Paris alone. The heights and ham- 


348 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


lets, adjoining the suburbs of the capital, were not for¬ 
tified, with the exception of breastworks hurriedly 
thrown up on Belleville and Montmartre, and a retrench¬ 
ment near La Villette. These heights were crowned 
with batteries, which were not brought into position till 
the Government could no longer doubt of danger being 
at hand, that is, when the Allied Monarchs had crossed 
the Marne. 

All the troops in the town were led out to the 
points of attack. They consisted of the skeletons 
and depots of various regiments of the guard and the 
line, and also of the national guard. These were 
joined at five o’clock in the afternoon of the 17th 
by Marshals Marmont and Mortier, who, by skilful 
forced marches, had escaped the clutches of the 
advanced guard of the Grand Army, and having 
crossed to the right bank of the Marne at Charen- 
ton, reached Paris at the moment Raiefsky gained 
possession of the forest of Bondy. Marmont took 
the command of the right wing which extended from 
the Marne, to the canal of the Ourcq. The villagers 
of St. Maur, Charonne, Bagnotel, Menil-Montant, 
Belleville, Pre-St. Gervais, and the castle of Vin¬ 
cennes, formed part of his line of defence. Mortier 
commanded the left wing between the canal of the 
Ourcq, Montmartre, and Neuilly. The enemy’s 
troops who took part in the defence, the national 
guards included, amounted to 45,000 men, with 150 
pieces of cannon, under the supreme command of 
Napoleon’s brother Joseph. Of the allied armies 
there were 100,000 men in line. 

According to the plan of attack, Raiefsky, re¬ 
inforced by the reserves of Count Barclay, was ap- 








































iYj 





CAPTAIN PERE 


349 


pointed to attack the enemy’s centre, that is, the 
space between Pantin and Vincennes, and especially 
the heights of Belleville; the Hereditary Prince of 
Wirtemberg, strengthened by the corps of Count 
Giulay on the left wing, to carry the bridges of the 
Marne at St. Maur and Charenton, to clear the 
wood of Vincennes, and blockade the castle. On 
the right wing the Silesian army was ordered to 
advance on Montmartre on two sides ; Count Lange- 
ron from Clichy and St. Dennis, and Generals Kleist, 
York, and Count Worontzoff, through the villages of 
La Villette and La Chapelle. The general onset 
was fixed for five o’clock in the morning, but Raiefsky 
and Count Barclay, as we shall see, alone moved up 
at the appointed hour. The Hereditary Prince of 
Wirtemberg and Count Giulay were still far from the 
field of battle, and the officer sent to Bliicher with 
the Emperor’s order to march out of his camp at five 
o’clock, lost his way while seeking for a bridge over 
the canal of the Ourcq, and did not reach the Field 
?Tarshal till the fight was raging in the centre, where 
the Russians fought alone. 

Before proceeding to give an account of this battle, 
we must mention a circumstance which occurred 
before it began. At day-break, while the Emperor 
was still at Bondy, an officer of the Parisian national 
guards was brought before him, who had given 
himself out as the bearer of a flag of truce, although 
he had no trumpeter with him. He turned out to be 
Captain Pere of the national guard who had served as 
Lafayette’s aide-de-camp in the outset of the revolu¬ 
tion. I was ordered to ascertain whether he had really 
been sent with a commission, or had merely assumed 


350 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


an official character, to save himself from captivity. 
Being half dead with fear, he quickly confessed that 
he had lost himself in the advanced line, and had 
stumbled on our patrols. It was certainly of little 
moment to add one Frenchman more to the two hun¬ 
dred thousand prisoners already in our hands ; but it 
was of importance to learn from him what was going on 
in Paris. He told us that Napoleon’s adherents were 
spreading the news of his speedy arrival with his army, 
and affirming that the allied troops before the capital 
were nothing more than a corps which he had cut off. 
“ In Paris,” continued he, “ nobody doubts it.” His 
astonishment may be imagined when he was told that 
they w r ere a hundred thousand strong, that Napoleon’s 
communication with the capital was barred, and that 
the Emperor’s head-quarters were at Bondy. I now 
led him to the gates of the mansion, where a company 
of the regiment of Preobrajensky was posted, and 
said to him, “There you see His majesty’s guards.” 

The Emperor on hearing of our having made an 
officer prisoner, ordered him to be introduced, and 
after conversing with him for half an hour, entrusted 
him with a declaration addressed to the commander- 
in-chief of the enemy’s troops, that “ His Majesty 
demands the surrender of Paris, that he is before 
the walls with his whole army, and is not war¬ 
ring with France, but with Napoleon.” At this time 
the fire of the skirmishers in the advanced lines began 
to be heard. The Emperor now ordered his aide-de- 
camp Orloff to proceed along with M. Pere to the 
French head-quarters, previously addressing the former 
as follows: “ Go, I empower you to suspend the fire 
when and where you may think proper. I authorize 


SIEGE OF PARIS. 


351 


you without any responsibility, to stop even the most 
decisive attacks, and suspend even victory itself. 
Paris deprived of its defenders and its great man, 
cannot resist; of that I am fully convinced. But 
while God has given me power and victory, it is His 
will that I should employ them to give peace and 
repose to the world. If we can obtain that peace 
without a battle, so much the better ; if not, let us 
yield to necessity and fight; for, either with good will 
or by main force, at the point of the bayonet or in 
processional march, on ruins or under gilded ceilings, 
Europe must sleep this very night in Paris.’* 

Orloff set off with the pretended negociator through 
Pantin, and ordered the skirmishers at that point to 
cease firing. The trumpeter gave the usual signal, 
and the Frenchman rode up to the enemy’s line, 
which had given over firing, and concealed himself 
beyond it. Hardly had Orloff approached within 
thirty paces, when the French fired a volley, and 
twenty light dragoons dashed at him and Colonel 
Diakoff, aide-de-camp to the Cesar6vitch. Our 
officers immediately turned back, pursued by the 
horsemen who followed them to Pantin where they 
were made prisoners. Orloff tried to approach the 
enemy at different points, but was every where fired 
upon: the combat had now become warm. Thus 
ended the first attempt at negociation, on conditions 
which the French did not accept till they were fairly 
forced to do so. Let us now return to the more 
serious business of the day. 

At the time appointed for the attack, Raitfsky 
divided his troops thus : Prince Eugene of Wirtem- 
berg received orders to march on Pantin, and towards 


352 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


the wood between that village and Romainville which 
had been occupied the evening before by General 
Helfreich : Rai<Tsky himself, with GortchakofPs corps 
and Count Pahlen’s cavalry, advanced on the enemy’s 
right flank through Romainville. The French had 
anticipated these attacks. Convinced of the fault 
they had committed on the 17th by not keeping pos¬ 
session of Pantin and Romainville which were the 
keys of their position, they resolved to retake them 
and were already in full march, at the moment Prince 
Eugene was approaching Pantin. Divining their in¬ 
tention, the Prince left one division in this village, and 
with the other advanced to meet the French to an 
eminence beyond Pantin. He informed Count 
Barclay of what was going on, by the following note. 
“ The second corps, is ready and willing to be sacri¬ 
ficed : think of us and help us.” The commander-in¬ 
chief answered, “Many thanks for your resolution; the 
grenadiers are prepared to reinforce you.” Till the 
reserves arrived, the prince had, however, to bear 
alone the brunt of the enemy’s fire, and to continue 
a bloody fight at close quarters in Pantin and Romain¬ 
ville, which cost him 1500 men killed on the spot. 

Raiefsky, having completed his detour, commenced 
operations on the left wing: his infantry carried Mon- 
treuil and Bagnolet, and Count Pahlen’s cavalry marched 
through Montreuil to Charon. These movements 
checked the impetuosity of the enemy, and weakened 
his hope of keeping off the allies. At eight o’clock 
in the morning, the Emperor arrived on the field of 
battle from Bondy, where he learned the unforeseen 
accident, owing to which the army of Silesia could not 
take up its ground at the appointed time, and that the 


POSITION OF THE ALLIES. 


353 


Hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg was not to be ex¬ 
pected before the lapse of some hours. These circum¬ 
stances and the weakness of Raiefsky’s corps, which 
had difficulty in retaining the position it had occupied, 
led to two conclusions : first, that the enemy, whose 
numbers were unknown, might this day, on getting 
possession of Pantin and Romainville, and the hills 
between them, present an insurmountable barrier to 
the carrying of the heights which commanded Paris; 
secondly, that the appearance of Napoleon, even with¬ 
out an army, in the capital, the centre of his military 
and political power, would necessarily lead to a still 
more obstinate defence. Promptitude and decision 
alone could extinguish the hopes of the enemy, and by 
defeating the calculations of Napoleon and his gene¬ 
rals, crown the arms of the Allies with success. In¬ 
fluenced by these important considerations, the Emperor 
ordered Count Barclay to bring forward the reserves, 
and thus decide the fate of the battle. His Majesty’s 
intention had been already carried into execution by 
the Count, who had ordered the second division of the 
grenadiers of Paskevitch to reinforce Raiefsky’s left 
flank, and the first or Tchoglokoff’s division, to advance 
on the height towards the wood between Pantin and 
Romainville. The Prussian and Baden guards followed 
them to Pantin, supported by the second division of 
the Russian guards. 

Having thus secured the centre, the Emperor turned 
his attention to the right wing, on which the Silesian 
army was destined to act. Owing to the cause we 
have explained, it was only now leaving the camp, with 
the exception of Count Langeron, who had marched 
forward without orders, and for the following reason. 

A A 


354 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


On the day of the battle of Paris, that army was com¬ 
posed of the two Prussian corps of York and Kleist, 
and of the two Russian corps-of Worontzoff and Lan- 
geron. His Majesty having sent an order by an aide- 
de-camp for Count Langeron instantly to advance on 
Montmartre, this officer met the Count’s corps march¬ 
ing towards La Villette. The cause of this isolated 
movement was, that Count Langeron, who had passed 
the night at Blanc-Menil, on hearing, in the morning, 
a heavy cannonade at Pantin, and receiving no orders 
from Marshal Bliicher, whom the Emperor’s order of 
battle had not yet reached, resolved, like an expe¬ 
rienced officer, to march with his own troops to the 
scene of action, that is, to Pantin. While he was exe¬ 
cuting this movement, Bliicher, who had in the mean¬ 
time received the order of battle, sent him an order to 
march to La Villette. Count Langeron was preparing 
to attack that village, when the aide-de-camp reached 
him with His Majesty’s order to direct his column 
against Montmartre. The Count desired the aide-de- 
camp to inform His Majesty of the occurrences of the 
morning, and that he would execute his orders the 
moment York, Kleist, and Worontzoff, should arrive 
at La Villette, it being impossible for him to quit this 
village, which was in the centre of the line of battle, 
without leaving considerable forces to watch it. As 
soon however as the troops came up and relieved him 
at La Villette, the Count set off through Obervilliers 
for Montmartre. 

The arrival of the grenadiers gave a new turn to 
affairs in the centre. Prince Eugene of Wirtemberg 
attacked the enemy’s left wing, which immediately 
retired to Pre-St.-Gervais and Belleville: Rai£fsky 


FIRST ATTACK. 


355 


checked the advance of the French between the wood 
and Romainville, and forced them to retire to Menil- 
Montant and Belleville : Count Pahlen, who was stand¬ 
ing on the left of Rai6fsky, on the heights of Rosney, 
sent a detachment to watch the castle of Vincennes, 
the Hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg not having yet 
come up, and ordered the hulans of Tchugooieff, who 
had descended into the plain, to approach one of the 
gates of Paris, called La Barriere-du-trone. Twenty 
pieces of cannon were immediately drawn out of the 
city against the hulans, and being planted on the road 
to Vincennes opened their fire; but the French had 
hardly fired a few shots, when Major Izewmof, with a 
troop of the hulans, made a dash at the battery, and 
taking it in flank, captured all the guns one after an¬ 
other. The gens-d’armes, who were covering them, 
fled into the town, at the gates of which was posted 
a body of the national guards, who checked the pursuit. 
The appearance of the hulans at the battery was so 
sudden, that the men who were serving the guns, (con¬ 
sisting chiefly of the students of the polytechnic school,) 
either from panic or inexperience, not only failed in 
turning them against the assailants, but even in saving 
themselves. When these youths were presented to 
Count Pahlen, two of them requested letters of re¬ 
commendation for Russia, where they expressed a wish 
to teach mathematics. Of twenty-eight guns, the 
hulans brought away nine, which were the first trophies 
of the battle of Paris. The remaining pieces were 
abandoned on the spot for want of horses, and because 
our men were obliged to retreat before a detachment 
of the national guard, which now cam$ out to attack 
them. 


a a 2 


356 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


As soon as the heights between Romainville and 
Pantin were fairly cleared of the enemy, Count 
Barclay, who personally directed operations in the 
centre, ordered the regiments, which for the most part 
were acting as skirmishers, to form and to remain on 
the ground they occupied. He was induced to do this 
by the conviction that on the approach of the Silesian 
army, and the Hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg, the 
carrying of Belleville would be attended with a less 
sacrifice of men and time. He likewise reinforced the 
infantry with the cuirassier regiments of Astrakhan 
and Pskoff, which charged the enemy’s skirmishers 
with success, and pursuing them as far as the batteries 
of Belleville, took a General prisoner. Thus ended 
the first act of the fight in which neither the right nor 
the left wing of the Allied armies took part: the 
Russians alone were engaged. The combat along the 
whole of the centre was now only kept up by the 
batteries and skirmishers. 

In the course of their numerous campaigns our 
troops had acquired singular perfection in skirmishing, 
and proved the injustice of the charge so often made 
of their inferiority as marksmen to the sharp-shooters 
of foreign armies. Although in the corps of the line 
there were many soldiers but newly brought from the 
reserves, yet, as in the regiments of the armies in 
activity, to which the recruits were posted, they found 
themselves side by side with veterans, they, in an 
almost incredibly short space of time, by dint of 
daily practice and the natural aptitude of their race, 
equalled in expertness and coolness those of their 
comrades who had grown grey in the service. Being 
almost continually under fire, and accustomed to mea- 


ATTACK OF LA VILLETTE. 


357 


sure the length of their campaigns by victories follow¬ 
ing each other in close succession, they at length 
became filled with contempt for the French, and of 
course went into action with full confidence of success. 

At eleven o’clock the corps of York and Kleist 
drew near to La Villette. Their left wing rested on 
the canal of the Ourcq, and united with the Grand 
army, while the right of the Silesian army under the 
command of Count Langeron kept advancing on 
Montmartre. For more than four hours, the enemy 
persevered in the defence of La Villette, which was 
covered by a work which the Prussians long attacked 
in vain. Count Worontzoff, who was standing in 
reserve at Obervilliers, sent to La Villette Major- 
general Krassovsky with the 13th and 14th regiments 
of light infantry, the foot regiments of Tula and 
Navaguinsk, and the 1st of the Cossacks of the Bug. 
Krassovsky opened his attack with a discharge of grape 
from Lieutenant-colonel Vinspar’s company of artillery. 
The light infantry and dismounted volunteers from 
the Cossack regiment, with the Tula and Navaguinsky 
regiments in reserve, charged with the bayonet, carried 
the battery without firing a shot, forced their way into 
La Villette, and driving the French out of it, pur¬ 
sued them to the gate of St. Martin, where they 
received an order to halt. The 13th and 14th regi¬ 
ments of light infantry, those ornaments of the 
Russian army, were in full parade uniform, having 
received notice early in the morning of Field-Marshal 
Bliicher’s intention to pass them in review. Instead 
of a review, however, they went straight into battle 
with their bands, singers, and drums, at their head. 
The Emperor, who from a hill was gazing with admir- 


358 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


ation on the gallant bearing of the troops in this part 
of the field, being struck with the exterior of these 
two regiments, so unusual on a day of battle, sent to 
learn their names, and the reason of their gala attire. 
On the following day, His Majesty sent fifty badges of 
distinction of the military order to the 13th and 14th 
light infantry, ten to the Cossacks, and as many to the 
company of artillery. The commander of the latter, 
had his hand torn off by a cannon-ball. Though but 
a Lieutenant-colonel, he was rewarded with the order 
of St. George of the third class. 

While the fight was raging at La Villette, the 
French once more made a show as if they would 
attack Pantin. Count Barclay ordered the brigade 
consisting of the Prussians and Baden guards to 
march out of that village, and advance to reinforce 
the skirmishers. As soon as the commander of the 
brigade, Colonel Alvensleben, had taken up his ap¬ 
pointed ground, the French opened a murderous fire 
upon him. He now requested leave of the Com- 
mander-in-Chief to attack the enemy posted between the 
canal of the Ourcq and Ргё -Saint-Gervais. Having 
received it, he formed his brigade in three columns, 
and heedless of the cross fire of the French, rushed 
upon them with a fury like that which the Prussians 
displayed at Liitzen, broke them, and pursued them to 
the barrier, at the same time taking five pieces of 
cannon. The particulars of this exploit were reported 
to the Emperor by Orloff, now count and general of 
cavalry, who had just returned from the Prussian 
brigade. His Majesty immediately took the cross of 
St. George from off the neck of the Grand Duke 
Constantine, and desired Orloff to present it to Colonel 


CHARENTON STORMED. 


359 


Alvensleben. This was done while the Prussians were 
still in the thick of a running fire. On seeing this 
flattering badge (not less valued by our allies than by 
the Russians,) bestowed on their commander, they 
gave a loud hurrah, whose echoes mingled with those 
of a regular volley. 

At length, about one o’clock in the afternoon, the 
heads of the columns of the Hereditary Prince of 
Wirtemberg’s corps appeared at Nogent on the Marne. 
His Highness, agreeably to the plan of attack, formed 
his troops in two columns on the high ground between 
Fontenay and Nogent, the reserve consisted of some 
battalions of Austrians who were in the Prince’s corps, 
for Count Giulay had not yet come up. Both columns 
entered the wood of Vincennes without encountering 
much opposition. One battalion was detached to 
blockade the castle, and the Prince, with the rest of 
his troops, turned off to the left in the direction of St. 
Maur, in front of which had been planted eight of the 
enemy’s guns to defend the village and bridge. The 
Wirtembergers advanced against the battery, stood its 
fire, and charging with the bayonet, took the eight 
guns ; after which the French retired to Charenton. 
The Hereditary Prince pursued them partly through the 
wood, and partly along the Marne, and on approach¬ 
ing Charenton, fell upon the enemy, among whom were 
the youths of the military school of Alfort. Here he 
routed them, and forced them into Charenton, which 
he then stormed, capturing eight guns. All the at¬ 
tempts of the enemy to regain the bridge at this 
place proved vain. Having got complete possession 
of the village, the Hereditary Prince sent detachments 
of horse to the suburbs of St. Anthony. When, with 


360 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

the exception of Count Langeron, who had not yet 
reached Montmartre, the right and left wings of the 
Allied armies had joined in the battle, the time was at 
hand to make a decisive attack in the centre. The 
hour was come for striking the blow which was to put 
an end to the nine years’ struggle between Alexander 
and Napoleon. At this moment, Count Barclay’s 
chief aids were Generals whose names will never die in 
the Russian army — Miloradovitch and Rai<Tsky. The 
former commanded the reserves, the grenadiers of 
which were engaged, and a part of the second division 
of the guards, with the brigade of the Prussian and 
Baden guards; the latter commanded two corps of 
troops of the line. These united corps were destined 
to storm Belleville, which was the last defence of Paris 
on the east. With this view, Raiefsky ordered Prince 
Gortchakoff to begin by taking possession of Charron, 
and Prince Eugene to carry the village of Pre-St.- 
Gervais, and the burying-ground of Mont-Louis. 
Count Miloradovitch lhd the grenadiers through 
Tourelle straight on Menil-Montant and Belleville, 
and Yermoloff, with the second division of the guards, 
and the Prussian and Baden brigade, marched by the 
high road through Pantin. The Emperor now sent 
another order to Count Langeron to carry Montmartre, 
cost what it might. The thunder of the artillery, and 
the loud hurrahs of the whole united troops as they 
advanced, filled the environs of Paris with such a 
battle-storm as they had not listened to from the 
earliest times. 

The advantageous position of the enemy, and the 
most desperate defence were not sufficient to check 
the iush of the assailants. In vain did Marmont and 


ATTACK SUSPENDED. 


3G1 


his Generals try to encourage the regiments by standing 
in front of the columns and skirmishers, and doing all 
they could to lead them into action. They exhausted 
every means of manly resistance and were vanquished. 
Flashing in the rays of a bright spring sun, the 
Russian colours were carried forward from one height 
to another, and in about an hour every obstacle was 
surmounted. The Emperor had hardly time enough 
to receive the reports of the trophies won by his 
troops. Puishnitsky’s division first took Pre-St.- 
Gervais, and seventeen pieces of cannon which had 
been planted there. Along with it the skirmishers of 
the Prussian and Baden guards rushed into the place 
on the right, and captured ten guns. Prince Gortcha- 
koff carried Charron, and the third division, under the 
command of Prince Shakhoffskoy, the burying-ground 
of Mont-Louis, and eight guns. The grenadier corps, 
advancing in a line with the other troops, captured 
seven guns at Menil-Montant. All the columns under 
a shower of round shot, grape and musketry, entered 
Belleville almost at the same time, and pushed their 
successes to the gates of Paris. All at once they re¬ 
ceived an order to halt, and to suspend the attack. 
This order was the result of the following circum¬ 
stances. 

As soon as the heights in front of Belleville were 
carried, Marshal Marmont saw plainly that he would 
not be able to keep his ground on the hill of Belle¬ 
ville. The descent from it on the Paris side is so 
abrupt that it is impossible to retire by it in good 
order with troops. A jretreat would therefore have 
inevitably become a flight, during which both the 


362 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


pursued and the pursuers would have rushed into the 
town together. Wherever Marmont turned his eye, 
he saw the success of the Allies, who were marching 
from various directions to the gates: Russian balls too 
from the batteries at Charron and Menil-Montant, 
began to fall into the city. To spare the capital the 
consequences of an assault, he had no resource left 
save in the moderation of the Allies, with whom he 
was now obliged to treat. In these circumstances he 
did not wait till Belleville was completely in our power, 
but the moment the Russians entered the streets of 
the village, despatched an officer to the Emperor to 
request a suspension of hostilities. 

To this effect, Marmont had full power from Joseph 
Bonaparte, given to him in writing on Montmartre 
soon after mid-day: “ If Marshals Mortier and 

Marmont should not be able to maintain their position, 
I empower them to enter into a treaty with the Emperor 
of Russia and Prince Schwarzenberg, who are now 
before them. The troops to retire behind the Loire.” 

Joseph had long hesitated to give the Marshals this 
discretionary power, because he did not believe that 
the Allied Sovereigns were before Paris with all their 
forces. Early in the morning he came to Montmartre* 
and persisted in his belief, while he saw the attack 
made only by the great road from Meaux. There 
was an end to his doubts, however, when at eleven 
o’clock, the Silesian army appeared, and began to 
deploy on the vast plain of St. Denis. At the same 
time, the captain of the national guard, who had been a 
prisoner during the night, appeared before him, and re¬ 
peated the Emperor’s words. Joseph then wrote his 


PRELIMINARY CONDITIONS. 


363 


consent for the Marshalls to enter into treaty, and 
retired from Montmartre to Paris, from whence he set 
out for Blois to rejoin Maria Louisa. 

The Emperor was on the point of ordering the 
guards to advance, in order to complete the victory, 
when the French officer appeared. Taking off his 
hat, he timidly ascended the hill at Romainville, and 
humbly saluting His Majesty, said that Marmont 
requested the attack to be suspended till the terms of 
an armistice should be agreed on. At this moment, 
Alexander tasted the first fruits of that constancy and 
firmness which will be associated with his name to the 
latest posterity. In the midst of the numerous suite 
which surrounded him, there reigned a perfect silence. 
All with boundless curiosity awaited His Majesty’s 
answer. Who among us has not the freshest recol¬ 
lection of his meekness, his Christian humility, when 
allusion was made to his personal glory ? Was it not 
plain to all of us that he considered himself as merely 
an instrument in the hand of Providence ? But the fea¬ 
tures of the Emperor, his look and mien were illumi¬ 
nated with an indescribable majesty, whenever he spoke 
of the destiny of nations, and of the interests of huma¬ 
nity : and such were they now. His Majesty answered 
the officer, that he granted the Marshal’s request, and 
would order the combat to be suspended, on condition, 
however, that Paris should be surrendered : “ other¬ 
wise,” added he, “ by the evening you will not know 
where your capital stood.” As the French officer had 
no authority to act, and simply prayed that the attack 
might be suspended, which it was impossible to agree 
to without losing the fruit of victory, the Emperor 
ordered his aide-de-camp, Orloff, to accompany the 


364 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

officer to Marshal Marmont, in order to arrange the 
preliminary conditions. 

In the first line of the enemy’s troops, Orloff met the 
Marshal, who, with his sword drawn, was encouraging 
his worn-out battalions. “ I am the Duke of Ragusa; 
who are you ?” said he. 

“ Colonel Orloff, aide-de-camp of the Emperor of 
Russia, who desires to save Paris.” 

“ That is my only wish and hope; we have other¬ 
wise nothing left for it but to die on the spot. What 
are your conditions ?” 

“ Hostilities to be suspended—the French troops to 
retire within the gates—plenipotentiaries to be instantly 
appointed to make arrangements for the surrender of 
Paris.” 

“ Agreed. The Duke of Treviso and I will go to 
the barrier of Pantin for that purpose. Tell the Allies 
to cease firing. Good bye.” 

“ Of course you understand that your troops are to 
evacuate the position of Mortmartre ?” said Orloff. 

“ Certainly,” answered Marmont: “ Montmartre is 
without the gates.” 

The Emperor, having received Orloffs report, com¬ 
manded the Secretary of State, Count Nesselrode, to 
proceed to the French army to conclude the truce. He 
was accompanied by Orloff, Prince Schwarzenberg’s 
aide-de-camp, Count Paar, and Captain Peterson. 
Officers were sent off in every direction, with orders for 
the troops to cease firing, and to halt wherever the or¬ 
der should reach them. It was indeed no easy task to 
carry such orders into effect in the heat of battle : the 
exasperated soldiers of both armies gave a very unwil¬ 
ling obedience. One of our grenadiers, who was aim- 


MOVEMENTS OF LANGERON. 


365 


ingata Frenchman, and pointing him out to the officer 
who was forbidding him to draw the trigger, said, 
“ Your honour, allow me just to have a shot at that 
fellow !” Among the enemy’s skirmishers, too, might 
still be heard a few hoarse voices shouting,— Vive 
Г Empereur! How different from their former cries of 
victory were these feeble sounds of warriors, whose 
glory was departed ! 

Soon after Alexander had pronounced the mighty 
words of clemency and forbearance, a hundred thousand 
gallant soldiers suspended the work of destruction. His 
Majesty now rode on to the hill of St. Chaumont, from 
which Paris appeared as if spread out on a boundless 
plain at his feet, and appealing for mercy to his gene¬ 
rosity. The armies stood in a semicircle from the 
Seine to the Marne, and the heights bristled with can¬ 
non. The first company of the artillery of the guards 
had been brought forward to Belleville. Ready for the 
assault, close columns leaning on their arms, on which 
French blood was not yet cold, in silent consciousness 
of their invincibility, waited for orders either to destroy 
Paris, or to enter it as peaceful victors. The firing had 
ceased along the whole line, and all was quiet, when 
suddenly, on the extremity of the right wing, Montmar¬ 
tre was lost in a cloud of smoke, from which issued the 
roar of artillery and musketry. In half an hour, the 
Emperor received a report that this fastness had been 
stormed. We left Count Langeron on his way to 
Montmartre, after the Prussians and Count Woront- 
zoff had relieved him at La Villette. He marched 
through Obervilliers to his destination, with the corps 
of Rudzevitch and Kaptsevitch, and sent the latter to 
take possession of St Denis. But knowing that this 


366 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


town was occupied by the enemy, and considering that 
the troops he had sent thither might be more usefully 
employed against Montmartre, he annulled his order, 
recalled Kapts6vitch, and replaced his troops, with a 
small detachment of observation. In the meantime, 
he marched on Clichy with a Rudz£vitch’s corps, and 
suffered some delay at the passage of the canal of St. 
Denis. Although there was no water in it, yet the 
steepness of the banks made it difficult to get the guns 
over, especially as there were no pioneers in the corps, 
and as the enemy at St. Denis kept up a cannonade 
on our columns. As the guns were brought over, they 
were placed in battery, and answered the enemy’s fire, 
which soon slackened. 

Count Langeron approached Montmartre by the 
road from Clichy, as the attack could only be made 
from that side of the hill, the other side being perpen¬ 
dicular, and surrounded by gardens, excavations, and 
quarries. Opposite to the road leading from Clichy, 
there were works mounted with thirty pieces of cannon, 
in two lines, one above another. The Count’s under¬ 
taking was attended with this further difficulty, that 
during his march, some columns of the enemy issued 
from La Villette, and followed his movement along the 
outer side of the suburbs of St. Denis and St. Lazarus. 
Notwithstanding this, he had begun to form his troops 
in order of attack, when he received His Majesty’s posi¬ 
tive order to take Montmartre, and to detach General 
Emanuel with two thousand horse, to occupy the Ver¬ 
sailles road. 

At four o’clock in the afternoon, Rudzevitch formed 
his men in columns, on the road from St. Denis to the 
Bois-de-Boulogne. His corps consisted of the ten fol- 


MONTMARTRE TAKEN. 


367 


lowing regiments :—the Yel6tsk, Raisk, Polotsk, Eka¬ 
terinburg, Riazan, Belozersk, and the 1st, 30th, 33rd, 
and 48th light infantry, in all eight thousand men under 
arms. The signal being given, the columns moved on, 
rending the air with tremendous hurrahs ! A small num¬ 
ber of French, who were posted at the foot of Mont¬ 
martre, perceiving the advance, and being exposed to a 
shower of shot and shells, immediately ascended the 
hill. The order in which the Russians mounted the 
steep side of Montmartre was above all praise. Count 
Langeron said, that in the course of a long military life, 
during which he had made twenty campaigns, he had 
seen nothing to be compared to it, except the storming 
of Ismail. The men pressed forward with such fury to 
gain the summit, that, when the wounded skirmishers 
were removed, and reinforcements sent forward to take 
their places, it required an exertion of authority to keep 
the men from rushing out of the ranks, in order to gain 
the advanced line. Rudzevitch, whose fearlessness is 
well known, considered the enterprize to be so des¬ 
perate, that before mounting to the assault, he took 
farewell of all his brother officers, as one who was sure 
never to return alive. 

The French had only time allowed them to fire twice 
with grape into the columns, the lower battery being 
instantly carried. On seeing it in the hands of the 
Russians, they made a last discharge from all the guns 
of the upper battery. But neither this fire, nor a con¬ 
tinued discharge of musketry from the houses and 
works, could shake the steadiness of the assailants. 
Exactly in ten minutes all the works and batteries were 
carried at the point of the bayonet. Of thirty guns, 
twenty-nine were captured, besides sixty ammunition 


368 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

carts, and one hundred and fifty prisoners. All the 
rest of the French, refusing to fight with cold iron, fled 
in disorder to Paris, pursued by the skirmishers, who, 
however, were ordered to halt, the Emperor having, in 
the morning, laid it upon the responsibility of the chiefs 
of corps, that not one soldier should enter the gates of 
Paris. Our artillery, which, during the assault, was 
planted at the bottom of Montmartre, having fired se¬ 
veral rounds, three balls fell in the most populous part 
of Paris, called the Chaussee d'Antin. General Kapt- 
s6vitch, who was in the reserve, emulous of Rudz6- 
vitch’s prowess, attacked, without orders, the left side 
of Montmartre, between the hill and the hamlet of La 
Chapelle, and took several guns close to the barrier. 
Our loss consisted of two officers and two hundred and 
fourteen rank and file. 

The enemy now sent to inform Count Langeron of 
the cessation of hostilities, who soon received an order 
from His Majesty to that purpose, and the news of the 
negociations for the surrender of Paris. “ The French 
call for quarter ! Paris is surrendering ! ” These words 
flew like lightning from mouth to mouth among the 
officers, and were repeated by the men. “ So Father 
Paris ! you must now pay for Mother Moscow ! ” said 
a soldier, making the sign of the redemption. After 
some short disputes with the French, Count Langeron 
placed guards at the issues of Paris, called in the skir¬ 
mishers who were scattered about the suburbs, posted 
his troops on the slope of Montmartre, and ordered 
eighty-four guns to be planted on the top of the hill, 
and pointed against Paris. When these arrangements 
were made, the Colonel of the Riazan regiment made 
the band get upon the very top of a windmill, and play 


TRUCE CONCLUDED. 


369 


a march. The music of the other regiments followed 
the example, and in a moment, from a spot threatening 
death and destruction, Montmartre was changed into 
one of rejoicing. White flags were displayed at the 
gates, or to speak more correctly, tablecloths and nap¬ 
kins fastened to poles, and the populace, in thousands, 
crowded to the barriers, demanding permission to visit 
the Russian camp; this favour, however, was granted 
exclusively to the fair sex. 

On receiving the report of the taking of Mont¬ 
martre, His Majesty ordered Rudz6vitch to be saluted 
Knight of the order of St. George of the 2nd class. 
With respect to Count Langeron, his recompense was 
announced in the following manner. A few days after 
the taking of Paris, the Grand Duke Constantine had 
the honour to entertain His Majesty at dinner. On 
seeing Count Langeron, the Emperor asked him if he 
had lost any thing, adding, that on riding over Mont¬ 
martre he had found something belonging to him. 
Count Langeron protested that he had lost nothing 
whatever. His Majesty, however, insisted that he had, 
and, handing him an envelope, said: “ There is what 
I found on Montmartre ! it belongs to you.” The 
packet contained the ribbon of St. Andrew. 

During the assault, the French had tried to make a 
sally from St. Оёпіз, but were driven back by the de¬ 
tachment of observation. General Emanuel, who had 
been sent round to the Versailles road, met the enemy 
at Neuilly, drove them off* with grape-shot, and then 
attacked the national guards at the entrance to the 
Elysian fields, called the Ъаггіёге de VEtoile. After 
firing a few rounds, the news of the truce was brought 
to him from the town by a French colonel. General 


в в 


370 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Emanuel did not believe him, not having yet received 
orders from his superiors on the subject; but, on the 
arrival of Langeron’s aide-de-camp with the confirma¬ 
tion of the intelligence, he retired to Neuilly. Here 
the national guards, who had been fighting with him 
but a moment before, did every thing they could to 
secure good billets for the detachment, and to supply 
it with every thing the place could afford. 

However brilliant, in a military point of view, was 
the storming of Montmartre, it had no influence on the 
surrender of Paris. The negociations at the barrier 
of Pantin were already in full march, and the orders to 
cease firing had been sent off in every direction when 
the assault was made. Our commissioners heard from 
Paris itself the Russian hurrah during the attack, and 
the French marshals then complained of the non-ob¬ 
servance of the promise to suspend hostilities. It was 
not difficult to satisfy them that this had arisen from 
the orders sent from Romainville not having reached 
the troops posted at Montmartre. Nevertheless this 
exploit, by depriving Paris of her last defence, and 
delivering her disarmed into the hands of the Allied 
Sovereigns, is a convincing proof that neither treason 
nor blind chance, but main force and valour, tore the 
capital out of Napoleon’s hands, and thus laid the axe 
to the root of his power. 

Immediately after the taking of Montmartre, Prince 
Schwarzenberg issued the following order to the troops : 
“ The Silesian army will occupy Montmartre, the Bois- 
de-Boulogne, and all the bridges from Neuilly to the 
city. Rai6fsky’s corps will remain on the heights of 
Belleville and Bagnolet, reinforced by the guards and 
reserves which will bivouac beyond Pantin and Romain- 


STRENGTH OF THE ARMIES. 


371 


ville. The Hereditary Prince of Wirtemberg will 
occupy the wood of Vincennes and the bridge of Cha- 
renton : Count Giulay’s corps will take post behind 
him. The whole troops are strictly enjoined to ob¬ 
serve the utmost caution and good order.” 

While the discussions with the marshals for the sur¬ 
render of Paris were going on, the Emperor remained 
for some time at Belleville and St. Chaumont.. He 
then rode round the regiments which were standing 
near him, congratulated them on their victory, and 
promoted Count Barclay, whose zeal and talents had 
made the Russian army the wonder of Europe, to the 
rank of Field Marshal. The warriors of Borodino, of 
Culm, and of Leipsic, made the air ring with shouts 
of welcome to the monarch, whose devoted bands had 
now mastered all the most difficult points of the de 
fences of Paris, watering them with rivers of blood. 

On this day the loss of the allies, in killed and 
wounded, amounted to 9093 men, of whom 153 were 
Wirtembergers, 1840 Prussians, and 7100 Russians. 
The list would not have been so considerable if Blu- 
cher had received, in good time, the plan of the attack, 
which, as we have seen, was intended to be a joint one 
with Count Barclay’s. In that case, the French would 
have been obliged to distribute their troops over the 
whole line, and could not have concentrated them ex¬ 
clusively against the Russians, as we have seen they 
did during the greater part of the morning. Although 
in the Allied Armies there was a hundred thousand 
men, and in that of the French only forty-five thou¬ 
sand, the number of those engaged on both sides, from 
five o’clock in the morning till eleven, was almost 
в в 2 


372 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN PRANCE. 


equal; for the army of Silesia came into action but a 
little before mid-day, and the Hereditary Prince of 
Wirtemberg, who had Count Giulay in reserve, did 
not open his fire before two o’clock in the afternoon. 
Besides, during the whole time Rai6fsky and Barclay 
were engaged with Marmont, the advantage of the 
ground being wholly in favour of the latter, gave him a 
decided superiority. It is, therefore, idle boasting on 
the part of the French, when they assert that a hun¬ 
dred thousand allied troops, after fighting a w T hole 
day, could hardly vanquish forces not more than half 
their number. Had the whole hundred thousand 
taken part in the battle, they would in a very short 
time have decided the victory, which, gained as it 
was, gave us the field of battle, eighty-six pieces of 
cannon, two pairs of colours, a thousand prisoners, 
and finally Paris itself. 

Let us now return to the negociations which pre¬ 
ceded the capitulation of Paris. Count Nesselrode 
and the officers who accompanied him, were received 
by Marshal Marmont on the outside of the barrier of 
Pantin, beyond which the French troops had already 
retired into the city. Mortier had not yet arrived. 
The cause of his tardiness was plain enough: to him 
who had lately blown up the Kremlin, it could not 
be very pleasant to hasten to a conference for the 
surrender of Paris. Marmont proposed that they 
should ride on to meet him by the road to La 
Villette. On meeting, both Marshals turning aside, 
exchanged a few words, and then the whole party 
entered a small house where the negociations were 
immediately opened. On the part of the French, 


NEGOCIATIONS OPENED. 


373 


they were conducted by Marmont alone; his as¬ 
sociate kept silence for the most part, and expressed 
his assent or disapprobation by nods. 

Count Nesselrode proposed that Paris should 
capitulate with all the troops it contained. The 
Marshals did not oppose the occupation of the 
capital by the Allies, but on no account whatever 
would they agree to lay down their arms. They 
appealed to their long service and to the numerous 
battles in which they had taken part, and added 
that they would rather perish than sign such a con¬ 
dition. Various arguments were brought forward to 
shake their resolution, such as political considerations, 
the saving of the capital, and their responsibility, if the 
consequence of their obstinacy should be the storming 
of Paris ; but it was all in vain. Even the storming 
of Montmartre which took place during the conference 
could not shake their resolution not to become prisoners 
of war. Count Nesselrode seeing them inflexible, 
found it necessary to return to His Majesty to request 
new powers. General Lapointe was ordered to ac¬ 
company him and to bring the ultimatum of the 
sovereigns. At the same time he was entrusted with 
a letter addressed by Napoleon to Prince Schwarzen- 
berg which had just been received, and in which he 
informed the Field Marshal that peace was on the 
eve of being concluded with the Emperor of Austria, 
and requested him as commander-in-chief, to suspend 
the attack on Paris. 

This letter had been handed to Marshal Mortier by 
one of Napoleon’s General-aide-de-camps along with 
an order to hold out for a few hours till the Emperor 
should arrive. With respect to Napoleon’s communi- 


374 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


cations with the Emperor Francis, it is known that on 
his way from St. Dizier to Paris, he despatched pro¬ 
posals of peace to his father-in-law, but he had not 
yet received an answer to them ; consequently the 
letter to the Marshals expressing a hope of a speedy 
pacification, was on the part of Napoleon nothing but 
a cunning device to keep Paris in his own hands. In¬ 
stead of resorting to this trick, why did not Napoleon 
himself, on seeing the imminent danger of his capital, 
hurry to Paris, whither the road was open to him, as 
was proved by the uninterrupted journey of the 
General who had just arrived ? Was it that the 
weight of years, or the want of success in this cam¬ 
paign, or a presentiment of his approaching fall had 
unmanned him to such a degree, that he who had 
once quitted Egypt on board a leaky vessel to make 
his way through the English cruizers which then 
covered the Mediterranean, would not venture to 
travel a hundred versts without an escort, in order to 
appear on the spot where his fate was to be decided ? 

The Emperor and the King of Prussia having 
perused this letter on the hill of St. Chaumont 
decidedly refused to pay any attention to it. Prince 
Schwarzenberg answered Mortier by letter that the 
inviolability of the alliance between the sovereigns 
was a pledge of the non-existence of negociations 
for peace with the court of Austria. In conclusion 
he forwarded to Mortier the appeal to the inhabitants 
of Paris which had been published the evening before, 
at the head-quarters of the Allies. 

At seven o’clock, Count Nesselrode was again sent 
to the barrier of La Villette, with orders not to insist 
on the French troops being considered prisoners of 


MODE OF RETREAT. 


375 


war. With the view of weakening Napoleon, by 
preventing the corps in Paris from joining him, the 
Marshals were now told that they might retire, but 
only by the road which the Allies should appoint. 

“ Whither would you have us march ?” asked 
Marmont. “ By the road to Bretagne,” was the 
answer. Marmont replied that Paris was not sur¬ 
rounded, and that consequently the troops might 
retire in various directions: and that if they were 
to defend Paris inch by inch, nothing could hinder 
them from crossing the Seine to the Faubourg-St.- 
Germain, and retreating on Fontainebleau, the road 
to which was open. “ Fortune has favoured you,” 
added he, “ your success is certain ; be at once mag¬ 
nanimous and moderate, and do not push your 
demands to extremity.” 

It was not thus that Miloradovitch spoke under 
the walls of Moscow, in a situation far more difficult 
than that of Mortier and Marmont. His rear-guard 
was still in advance of the town, while the French 
army was rapidly approaching the gates. He never 
talked of terms for securing his retreat, nor bargained 
with the enemy about a road to retire by, never counted 
his exploits nor the battles in which he had fought, 
nor appealed to the generosity of his enemies. He 
merely ordered the King of Naples to be told, that 
if the advance of the French were not instantly 
stopped, he would set fire to the town and bury him¬ 
self under its ruins. Napoleon who was then with 
Murat, complied with Miloradovitch’s demand, and 
not only our rear-guard, but the immense mass of 
troops and baggage which then encumbered the streets 
of Moscow, quitted the town unmolested. 


376 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


The Marshals would not agree to take the road to 
Bretagne, and the discussion was prolonged to no pur¬ 
pose. Mortier at length said, that he must return to 
his troops, and left the decision to Marmont, who, re¬ 
maining alone, kept firmly to his purpose. The even¬ 
ing was drawing on, and the capitulation was not yet 
concluded, while the darkness, by preventing us from 
renewing the attack, would enable the French troops to 
retire by whatever road they chose. For these reasons, 
Orloff remained with the enemy, by way of hostage, 
till the renewal of hostilities, and Count Nesselrode 
again interrupting the negociations, returned to the 
Emperor, to receive his ultimatum; but His Majesty, 
having, in the mean time, retired to Bondy, the Count 
there received authority for Orloff, who had entered 
Paris along with Marmont, finally to arrange the terms 
of capitulation, without insisting on prescribing a route 
to the enemy’s troops. Within a quarter of an hour 
Orloff drew up the articles of capitulation, which were 
signed, after Marmont had read them aloud, pausing 
at almost every word, as if wishing to learn the opinions 
of the crowd of persons of various ranks and profes¬ 
sions, who were then assembled at his house. 

The following was the substance of the capitulation : 
1st. The Marshals to evacuate Paris, with their corps, 
on the following morning, by seven o’clock. — 2nd. 
Hostilities not to recommence till two hours after the 
French should have quitted the city.—3rd. The arse¬ 
nals and magazines to be given up in the state they 
were at the signing of the capitulation.— 4th. The 
national guards and the gendarmes to be separated 
from the troops of the line, and at the pleasure of the 
Allies, to be either disbanded, or employed as before, 


CONDUCT OP NAPOLEON. 


377 


on garrison duty, and the service of the police.—5th. 
The wounded and stragglers found, after ten o’clock 
in the morning, to be considered as prisoners of war.— 
6th. Paris is confided to the generosity of the Monarchs. 

The surrender of Paris, and the articles relative to 
the troops, were accurately defined by the capitulation, 
but nothing was settled with respect to the future des¬ 
tiny of the city, for which reason a deputation from it 
was appointed to wait on the Emperor. A good deal 
of time was spent before the deputies got ready, and 
the day was beginning to dawn as they proceeded along 
the road to Bondy, in the midst of the Russian bivou¬ 
acs, which now presented a most animated picture ; the 
soldiers, after their short repose, beginning to rise by 
the light of innumerable fires. When the deputation 
had reached its destination, and Orloff, who had accom¬ 
panied it, had entered His Majesty’s apartment, the 
Emperor’s first question was,—“ What news have you 
brought me ?” 

“ The capitulation of Paris.” 

His Majesty having read it through, and minutely 
questioned his aide-de-camp as to what had passed in 
Paris, embraced him, and congratulated him on the 
signature of so important a document. 

The Marshals had already agreed to surrender the 
capital, but the capitulation was not yet signed, when 
Napoleon arrived at the village of Juvisy, at the dis¬ 
tance of fifteen versts from his good city of Paris, in 
which he dared not now show his face, the once proud 
city having changed masters. On returning from Vitry, 
he became at length convinced of the true direction of 
the Allies: he therefore advanced, by forced marches, 
through Doulevante, to Troyes and Sens. At Dalan- 


378 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


court, on the Aube, he received a report of the passage 
of the Allies at Meaux, of their advance to Claye, and 
that Marmont and Mortier despaired of being able to 
make head against them. In this extremity, Napoleon 
had recourse to his father-in-law, and sent him a letter, 
the contents of which have never been made public. 
At the same time he despatched a General-aide-de- 
camp to Paris, with an order to hold out till his arrival, 
and with the lying assertion of his having entered into 
negociations with Austria, and of the speedy conclu¬ 
sion of a separate peace with that Power. Close after 
him he sent General Girardin to excite the troops and 
the inhabitants to prolong the defence, and verbally 
ordered the powder magazine, on the plain of Grenelle, 
to be blown up. Had this murderous order been car¬ 
ried into execution, the destruction of an incalculable 
number of the inhabitants must have been the conse¬ 
quence ; but the officer in charge of the powder, Colo¬ 
nel Lescaur, demanded a written order, which General 
Girardin had not to give him. At the present day, 
when the so-called Young Literature is accustomed 
to lavish eulogy on Napoleon, and to represent that 
scourge of humanity as a model of goodness, his pa¬ 
negyrists affect to doubt the truth of this fact; yet, at 
the time we are speaking of, it was well known to all 
Paris, and the particulars were learned by many of us 
from Colonel Lescaur himself, who was rewarded by 
the Emperor Alexander with the Diamond Cross of the 
Order of St. Anne, of the Second Class. 

Two hours after the departure of General Girardin, 
Napoleon reached Vandoeuvres, where he learned that 
Lyons was in the hands of the Austrians. It seemed, 
indeed, as if on that day, the 17th of March, he were 


CONDUCT OP NAPOLEON. 


379 


destined to receive blow after blow. There was now 
no time to lose in vain combinations. After taking a 
few hours’ repose at Troyes, he hurried off early in the 
morning of the day of the battle of Paris. At first he 
was attended by an escort of cavalry, but, in his anxiety 
to reach the capital, he ordered the detachment to halt, 
and, with a few confidential persons, took post at Vil- 
leneuve, while his army, to which we shall soon return, 
followed him in the direction to Sens. The nearer he 
approached to Paris, the true state of his affairs became 
better known to him. At one post-house, he learned 
the departure of his wife and son to Rambouillet; at 
another, that the Allies had closed up to Paris on dif¬ 
ferent sides, and at Fontainebleau that the Russians had 
attacked the hill of Romaineville. “ Napoleon presse 
lui-meme les postilions , les roues brulent le pave” says 
an eye-witness. It was all in vain. The loss of time 
was irreparable ; the decree of fate had gone forth 
against him ! 

At ten o’clock at night, at Juvisy the last post 
station, Napoleon met the advanced troops on their 
way from Paris. From them he learned the events of 
the fatal day, and that his entrance into Paris was for¬ 
bidden. In the first moments of his dissatisfaction, 
he wanted to go on to Paris, and defend it with the 
troops still remaining there, the national guards, and 
the armed inhabitants; but he soon yielded to the 
force of the representations of the generals around 
him, who laid before him the ruinous consequences of 
so desperate a resolution. Having given an order for 
the troops to halt at Essonne, he sent Caulaincourt to 
the emperor with full powers to agree to all the offers 
which were made to him at Chatillon, and then re- 


380 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

turned to Fontainebleau, where he remained a silent 
witness of the triumph of Alexander in Paris. 

Very different from the aspect of Juvisy was that of 
the castle of Bondy on this memorable night. At the 
former lay the vanquished, at the latter the victors. 
There lay fortune at the last gasp, while here was the 
fullest confidence of the successful termination of a 
war unparalleled since the invention of fire-arms. It 
only remained to take possession of Paris, for which 
purpose arrangements were now made. The following 
orders were given to the troops : 

1. Count Pahlen, to march early in the morning by 
the bridge of Austerlitz along the road to Fontaine¬ 
bleau, following Mortier and Marmont. 

2. At half-past nine, the following troops to be in 
readiness between the suburbs of Pantin and St. 
Martin, to enter Paris in this order, viz: the guards, 
grenadiers, and cavalry of the corps of reserve, wholly 
Russian, with the exception of a few weak battalions 
of the Prussian and Baden guards, and Austrian 
grenadiers. 

3. None of the other corps to enter Paris, but to 
encamp around it, and to mount guard at the gates 
and certain places in the city, till they should 
be relieved by the Imperial gnards and the grena¬ 
diers. 

It was no easy matter for the troops of the line to 
comply with this order. There was such a scarcity of 
uniforms and shoes, that out of Prince Eugene of 
Wirtemberg’s entire corps, it was hardly possible to 
pick out a thousand men decently enough clothed and 
shod for this duty. In their exterior, Raiefsky’s troops 
had more the look of Frenchmen than Russians, as the 


PARIS ENTERED BY THE ALLIES. 


381 


men, on joining from the reserves in grey jackets, had 
lost no time in exchanging them for French uniforms, 
which they stripped from the backs of the killed and 
prisoners. With respect to the guards, grenadiers and 
cavalry of the reserve, these troops notwithstanding 
two long and wasting campaigns, had been kept by the 
Emperor in the highest state of order and equipment, 
in proof of which we may cite the opinion of the 
English general, Stewart, now Marquess of London¬ 
derry. “ It is impossible by any description to give an 
exaggerated idea of the perfect state of these troops; 
their appearance and equipment were admirable; and 
when one considered what they had endured, and con¬ 
templated the Russians, some of whom had emerged 
from the steppes of Tartary, bordering the Chinese 
Empire, traversed their own regions, and marched in a 
few short months, from Moscow across the Rhine, one 
was lost in wonder, and inspired with a political awe of 
that colossal power.”* 

The victorious troops marched into the capital of 
France in the following order : 

Prussian cavalry of the guards, 

Light-horse division of the guards. 

Austrian grenadiers. 

Russian grenadier corps. 

Russian infantry of the guards: viz : the second 
division of the Russian guards, the Prussian and 
Baden guards, and the first division of the Russian 
guards. 

Third, second, and first divisions of Russian cuiras¬ 
siers, with the artillery. 

* Narrative of the war in Germany and France, in 1813 and 1814 by 
the Marquess of Londonderry. Chap. 15. p. 254. 


382 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Every necessary preparation was made to meet 
a day unrivalled in history, and we may say, with¬ 
out fear of exaggeration, that never was the rising 
of the sun waited for with greater impatience, than 
during the night previous to the triumphant entrance 
into Paris. 


383 


CHAPTER VII. 

Alexander's entrance into Paris, and his stay there.—His designs through¬ 
out the Campaign.—Sacken appointed Governor-General of Paris .— 
Napoleon deprived of the Throne by a decree of the Senate.—Last 
movements of the French army.—Napoleon abdicates, and is to retire 
to Elba.—Expression of Public Opinion towards Alexander.—Results 
of the Campaign. — Conclusion. 


At day-break on the morning of the 19th March, the 
Generals and Officers of His Majesty’s suite, began to 
descend into the broad court before the castle of 
Bondy. Soon after, arrived the deputies of the muni¬ 
cipality of Paris in their state carriages. They were 
followed by a man on horseback, who was well known 
to us all; it was Caulaincourt, sent by Napoleon with 
an offer to accept the terms he had rejected at Chatillon. 
The soldier of the Preobrajensky regiment, who was 
standing sentry, told him he must dismount, and the 
French Minister was obliged to comply. On seeing 
the officers assembled in the court, he took off his hat, 
and with downcast eyes passed by us. Being re¬ 
quested to engage him in conversation till his arrival 
should be announced to the Emperor, I requested him 
to walk into the castle; and here I frankly confess 
that it was not without a feeling of satisfaction that I 
beheld the humiliation of this upstart, who, notwith- 


384 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


standing his sincere attachment to the Emperor Alex¬ 
ander, and his persevering efforts to dissuade Napoleon 
from the war with Russia, had set no bounds to his 
overbearing pride while he was Ambassador at St. 
Petersburg. The Emperor now passed more than an 
hour with him; yet from his troubled air on quitting 
the audience chamber, it was possible to see that his 
offers had been rejected. Precisely at eight o’clock, 
the Emperor mounted his horse. On the road he 
came up up with the King of Prussia, and a little way 
farther with the guards. No pen is able to describe 
the enthusiasm with which he was hailed by the 
soldiers. At the distance of three versts from the 
gates appeared the Parisians, all asking one question : 
“ Where is the Emperor Alexander ?” 

The immense edifices of Paris gradually came fully 
into view. Some of our officers had rode into town 
early in the morning, with orders of different kinds, 
and, on their return, excited, by the accounts they gave 
of it, the general eagerness to be in the capital. All 
were burning with impatience to enter a city which had 
so long assumed the right of giving law to the world in 
matters of taste and fashion ; in which were unrivalled 
treasures of art and science, and from which issued 
those oppressive regulations which had weighed down 
so many nations. To crown their two years’ series of 
victories, nothing was wanting to the Russians but the 
triumphant possession of the French capital; for, till 
that consummation, it was impossible not to feel that 
public justice had not been satisfied, that our offended 
national dignity had not been avenged, and that a full 
equivalent had not been obtained for an unparalleled 
expenditure of blood and treasure. But another half 


ENTRY OF PARIS. 


385 


hour’s fighting, and the mighty Empire, which had ex¬ 
tended from the Baltic to the Tagus, shaken to its very 
foundations, and tottering to its fall, might have pre¬ 
sented to the gazer’s eye but a huge mass of crumbling 

ruins. 

At nine o’clock in the morning we reached the sub¬ 
urbs, where a countless multitude crowded the streets, 
and the roofs and windows of the houses. At first it 
seemed as if the inhabitants were still under the influence 
of fear, for their acclamations were not general. This 
continued for a few minutes, during which they kept 
continually asking us and one another, “ Where is the 
Emperor ?” “ There he is,—there is Alexander,” ex¬ 

claimed they. “ How graciously he nods to us; with 
what kindness he speaks with us !” “ I am not come 

among you as an enemy,” said His Majesty. A French¬ 
man saying, they had long been looking for the Empe¬ 
ror’s arrival,” His Majesty replied, “ I should have 
been sooner here, but for the bravery of your troops.” 
The French, who had pictured to themselves the Rus¬ 
sians as worn out, by long campaigns and hard fighting, 
as speaking a language altogether unknown to them, 
and dressed in a wild outlandish fashion, could hardly 
believe their eyes, when they saw the smart Russian 
uniforms, the glittering arms, the joyous expression of 
the men, their healthy countenances, and the kind de¬ 
portment of the officers. The sharp repartees of the 
latter, in the French language, completed their astonish¬ 
ment. “ You are not Russians,” said they to us, 
“ you are surely emigrants.” A short time, however, 
served to convince them of the contrary, and the report 
of the, to them incredible, accomplishments of the con¬ 
querors, flew from mouth to mouth. The praises of the 
c c 


386 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


Russians knew no bounds ; the women from the win¬ 
dows and balconies welcomed us, by waving their hand¬ 
kerchiefs and from one end of Paris the cry of “ Long 
live Alexander ! Long live the Russians!” was uttered 
by a million of voices. 

We passed through the suburbs of Montmartre, and 
turned off to the left along the Boulevards, where the 
crowd soon became prodigious : indeed, it was hardly 
possible to make one’s way on horseback. The inha¬ 
bitants kept constantly stopping our horses, and launch¬ 
ing out in praise of Alexander ; but they rarely alluded 
to the other Allies. Emboldened by the affability of 
the Emperor, they began to wish for a change of go¬ 
vernment, and to proclaim the Bourbons. White 
cockades appeared in the hats, and white handkerchiefs 
in the air; not a few of the people crowded round His 
Majesty, requesting that he would remain in France. 
“ Reign over us,” said they, “ or give us a Monarch 
like yourself.” 

Continuing our march in front of rows of magnificent 
buildings, and monuments erected to perpetuate the 
glory of the French arms, we at length reached the 
Elysian Fields, where the Emperor halted, and re¬ 
viewed the troops which marched past him. Hither 
the Parisians rushed from every quarter, to witness so 
novel a spectacle. The women requested us to dis¬ 
mount, and allow them to stand on the saddles, in order 
to have a better view of the Emperor. The march was 
opened by the Austrians, between whose ranks the 
people crowded, in spite of the utmost efforts of the 
gendarmes ; but the moment the Russian grenadiers 
and foot-guards appeared, the French were so struck 
with their truly military exterior, that they did not re- 


PROCLAMATION OF ALEXANDER. 


387 


quire even to be told to clear the way : all at once, as 
if by a secret unanimous consent, they retired far be¬ 
yond the line traced for the spectators. They gazed, 
with silent admiration, on the guards and grenadiers, 
and allowed that their army, even at the most brilliant 
epoch of the Empire, was never in such order as were 
these two corps, after our three immortal campaigns. 
The review ended about five o’clock in the afternoon, 
when His Majesty retired to the house of M. Talleyrand, 
in which he resided during the early period of his stay 
at Paris. A part of the troops mounted guard, and 
the rest took up the quarters assigned them in the 
town. 

A few hours after the occupation of Paris, a procla¬ 
mation, signed by the Emperor Alexander, was issued, 
in which His Majesty invited the French to choose an 
interim Government, and announced, that neither he 
nor the Allies would enter into treaty with Napoleon, 
or the members of his family. Thus was at last em¬ 
bodied in words an idea which the Emperor had long 
cherished for the good of mankind ; an idea which had 
not taken its rise in the intoxication of victory, when he 
had every chance of success on his side, but in those 
days of trial when Napoleon, at the head of the armies 
of three-fourths of Europe, was desecrating the Krem¬ 
lin with his presence. At the most fatal crisis of the 
war of 1812, when the existence of his empire seemed 
to hang by a thread, Alexander said, “ I or Napoleon, 
he or I, but together we cannot reign.” The cam¬ 
paigns in Germany and France were nothing but the 
development of this idea, an effort to carry it into exe¬ 
cution. This is the key to the Emperor’s pressing in¬ 
stances not to make peace with him, who had destroyed 
с c 2 


388 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


the balance of power, and deluged Europe with blood, 
while sacrificing millions of men on the altar of his 
caprice. 

While the war was going on in Germany, it was 
too early to give utterance to wishes or intentions 
of pulling down Napoleon. Premature discussion of 
such a nature might have interrupted the harmony 
of a coalition, whose force consisted in unity of 
purpose and action. But France once invaded, the 
object of His Majesty began to unfold itself; but 
gradually, for it was impossible all at once to shake 
the conviction, which, during a long course of years, 
had taken firm hold of the minds of the allies, of 
Napoleon’s invincibility, and which was become 
indeed a rooted prejudice of cabinets and nations. 

While speaking on so important a subject, the like 
of which will vainly be sought for in modern history, 
the reader has a right to doubt the accuracy of 
speculative conclusions, and to call for proofs. We 
shall find these in the emperor’s own words which 
have been already cited in the course of this work, 
but which it may not be amiss to repeat here in an 
abridged form. After the passage of the Rhine, 
there arose at Langres, for the first time, misunder¬ 
standings as to the aim of the war, and the question 
came to be put, “ Should the war be continued, or 
should the Allies rest satisfied with the successes 
already obtained ?” In the opinions which His 
Majesty communicated to the allied cabinets, it is 
said, “ If Providence should turn circumstances, and 
even Napoleon himself, into engines for the destruc¬ 
tion of his political existence, it would neither be 
contrary to justice nor to the interests of Europe.” 


CONDUCT OF THE FRENCH. 


389 


These words may be considered as the first step 
towards the solution of the question of Napoleon’s 
fate. In the month of February, when formal dis¬ 
cussions took place at Troyes, the Emperor’s opinion 
was expressed in still more explicit terms. “ I do 
not share,” says he, “ the opinion of the Allies on 
the greater or less degree of importance, attached by 
them to the overthrow of Napoleon, if it can be 
justified by prudence. On the contrary, I look on 
this measure as the completion of the deliverance of 
Europe, as the brightest example of justice and 
morality which it is possible to give to the world.” 
Ten days afterwards, during the retreat from Troyes 
to Chaumont, the Emperor said to the English 
secretary of state, Lord Castlereagh, “ I will not 
make peace with Napoleon while he is on the 
throne.” At last, immediately on entering Paris, 
when events had sufficiently ripened, the Emperor 
pronounced the decisive sentence. The declaration 
then issued by him drew a well defined line between 
the past and the future, and gave a totally new view 
to affairs; for till then the allied sovereigns had kept 
firm to their principle of abstaining from measures 
tending to change the reigning dynasty of France. 

The mob now began to insult the monuments 
which had been erected in honour of Napoleon; but 
the majority of the inhabitants still seemed lost in 
wonder, as if not believing what they saw with their 
eyes, and kept asking each other if it were really 
true that their conquerors were enlightened and com¬ 
passionate. “ Is it possible,” asked they, “ that 
Alexander can limit his triumph to securing the 
happiness of the country he has subdued ?” Evening 


390 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


at length came to give that repose which was equally 
necessary to the victors and the vanquished ; the 
streets were gradually thinned of their crowds, and 
a general stillness ensued which was the more sensi¬ 
ble, that during the course of the preceding days 
every breast had been agitated by a throng of hopes 
and wishes which had been crowned by the most 
fortunate events. All we saw and felt was so fully 
equal to our expectations, that the consummation of 
our happiness was perfect. 

Night fell. Near the house where the Emperor 
had taken up his abode, was posted the first battalion 
of the regiment of Preobrajensky, of which His 
Majesty’s company occupied the yard. A solemn 
silence now reigned in the noisy capital, and so 
perfectly were the rules of discipline observed by 
the army, that no disorder was heard of, although 
50,000 foreign troops passed the night in the city. 
Not a sound was heard in the streets save the call 
of the Russian sentries. 

On the following day the delirium of joy was 
universal in Paris. With the first rays of the sun a 
vast crowd of people assembled in the rue St. 
Florentine , the j dace de Louis XV, and the garden 
of the Tuileries, which lay close to the house occupied 
by the Emperor, all thirsting after political news. 
Accustomed to receive printed news by means of 
which each of the ephemeral governments, existing 
from the beginning of the revolution had endeavoured 
to bring over the people to its side, they collected 
in crowds before our windows, begging us to dis¬ 
tribute bulletins among them. On this occasion 
their curiosity was highly reasonable, as they might 


CONDUCT OF ALEXANDER. 391 

hope to find in such advertisements the decree of 
their fate. 

Several proclamations were now issued in the 
name of the Emperor alone, bearing on them the 
impress of the lofty sentiments of Alexander. Not¬ 
withstanding the moderate and even modest language 
in which they were couched, they breathed the 
accents of the conscious leader of banded Europe. 
The prefect of police Pasquier, and Chabrel pre¬ 
fect of the department of the Seine, announced to 
the inhabitants that the French troops had been 
obliged to yield to the superior numbers of the 
allied armies, that all further opposition on their 
side would have been ruinous, and that the necessary 
consequence was the surrender of Paris. The 
following are their own expressions. “ Safety of 
person and property has been guaranteed by the 
Emperor of all the Russias, who was pleased this 
morning to assure the municipal authorities of his 
protection and favour to the inhabitants of the 
capital.” It is thus plain that nobody but the 
Emperor gave the Parisians full assurance of the 
only blessings left to the vanquished—life and property. 

The secretary of state, Count Nesselrode, announced 
His Majesty’s commands to the prefect of police, for 
the discharge of all persons confined in the prisons, on 
real or pretended charges of having hindered the pea¬ 
sants from firing on our troops, and of being devoted 
to the cause of the Bourbons. But we shall see, in 
the sequel, that the Emperor’s protection was equally 
accorded to the adherents of Napoleon. While thus 
befriending all classes of the inhabitants, he steadily 
refused to interfere in the affairs of private people, and 


392 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


ordered the numerous persons who came to him with 
petitions to be told, that being in France merely for 
the re-establishment of peace and happiness, His Ma¬ 
jesty had laid it down as a rule, to interfere in no re¬ 
spect whatever with the ordinary course of the laws, and 
therefore requested the petitioners" to have recourse to 
the interim government, or to the courts of justice en¬ 
titled to take cognizance of their affairs. 

The Russians, Austrians, Prussians, and French, fur¬ 
nished each a commandant of Paris, and Sacken was 
appointed Governor-General. It would, indeed, have 
been difficult to select, for this important situation, an 
officer better fitted to inspire the inhabitants with re¬ 
spect for the Russian name, by his perfect knowledge 
of the world, the firmness of his character, and the 
urbanity of his manners. The high dignity to which 
he was now elevated, was the well-earned reward of his 
exploits in the preceding campaigns. On entering on 
his functions, he gave positive orders that nobody 
should be molested for political opinions, or for any 
outward marks of distinction he might wear. By main¬ 
taining the strictest discipline among the troops, and 
good order in the capital, he gained the attachment of 
the Parisians to such a degree, that wherever he went 
he was received with clapping of hands. On his ap¬ 
pearance, shouts of “ Long live General Sacken !” 
resounded on every side. If he happened to visit the 
theatre, after the raising of the curtain, the spectators 
ordered the actors to recommence the piece. The 
following order, issued by him, will serve to prove the 
principles by which he governed the city committed to 
his care. “ Having inspected the temporary hospital 
established in the suburbs of Roule, I have to offer the 


CONDUCT OF ALEXANDER. 


393 


directors and officers my warmest thanks, for their 
exertions to alleviate the sufferings of brave soldiers. 
I was deeply affected by the gratitude expressed by 
the sick towards those to whose care they are entrusted. 
May Heaven too bless the people who aid the sick and 
wounded without distinction of country ! ” 

On the second day after the occupation of Paris, 
theatrical representations recommenced, the post-office 
resumed its wonted activity, and some hundred thou¬ 
sands of foreign letters were despatched or delivered, 
which had been detained for three years. The city 
gates were opened, and all who chose allowed to leave 
the town, the roads in the neighbourhood of the capital 
were rendered safe, and in a very short time the bank 
resumed its payments of the interest of the national 
debt and the pensions. In short, every possible mea¬ 
sure was taken to re-establish the general tranquillity; 
the inhabitants were even invited to present petitions 
for redress of the grievances inseparable from the 
quartering of troops. 

Nobody could have imagined that Paris would be 
treated so mildly ; for the injury done by the French 
to each of the allies had been so sensible, and their 
conduct in the conquered capitals so insulting, that 
every species of revenge on our part might have been 
considered pardonable. Such lenity had its source in 
the lofty principles of the Emperor Alexander. To 
him alone is to be ascribed this triumph of clemency, 
which has shed an undying glory over the Russian 
name. At a subsequent period, I had more than once 
an opportunity of hearing him lay it down as a maxim, 
“ that harsh measures should never be used to gain an 
end.” Agreeably to this principle, lie generally made 


394 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


choice of means, which not only armed nobody against 
him, but, on the contrary, gained him the hearts of 
those whose opinions were at variance with his own. 

The Senate, under cover of the proclamation issued 
in the Emperor’s name, on the day of the occupation 
of Paris, pronounced a decree depriving Napoleon of 
the throne, and the public functionaries lost no time in 
giving their adherence to it. When the Senators 
appeared before the Emperor, His Majesty gave them 
the following answer, which was received with un¬ 
feigned enthusiasm : “ A man who called himself my 
ally, invaded my Empire in the most unjust manner. 
For this reason I am waging war with him, and not 
with France. I am the friend of the French. Your 
present act, by which you have deprived Napoleon and 
his family of the throne, will serve as an additional 
bond of union between me and you. Good sense de¬ 
mands that a government should be established in 
France on foundations at once solid, and in harmony 
with the actual civilization of the country. My allies 
and I will protect the freedom of your discussions.” 
After a moment’s pause, His Majesty continued : “ As 
a proof of the stable connexion which it is my inten¬ 
tion to establish with you, I restore you all the French 
prisoners now in Russia. The interim government has 
already presented a request to me with respect to them, 
but I make this concession to the Senate in considera¬ 
tion of the decree you have this day pronounced.” 

The Senate ordered these words to be inserted in 
the journals, and to be published for public informa¬ 
tion, which was immediately done by means of the 
newspapers and printed bulletins, posted on the walls 
of the houses. “ Let us express our eternal grati- 


PROGRESS OF THE FRENCH ARMY. 395 

tude,” said one of the courts of law, “ for the most 
noble act of generosity to be found in the annals of 
the world. The Emperor of all the Russias is about 
to heal the wounds of two hundred thousand families, 
by restoring freedom to the unhappy Frenchmen whom 
the fortune of war had placed under his power. His 
Majesty is hastening the happy moment, in which we 
shall see our brothers, friends, and sons.” 

As the war did not end with the taking of Paris, we 
must now recount the last events which preceded the 
peace. 

The French army advanced, by forced marches, from 
Troyes, and concentrated at Fontainebleau. General 
Wintzengerode, who had been charged to observe it, 
was, after his defeat at St. Dizier, driven off towards 
Bar-le-Duc, and his advanced guard to Vitry. Being 
joined by it at Chalons, he marched after Napoleon, 
but with difficulty overtook his rear-guard. Close to 
the French, there remained only Chernisheff, who was 
at Eclaron during the combat at St. Dizier, and after¬ 
wards, when Napoleon took the road to Paris, kept 
a-head of him to Chavange, Pongy, and Piney, as he 
had the year before, after the battle of Leipzic, got the 
start of him on the road to the Rhine. Beyond Piney 
he could no longer form the advanced guard of the 
French ; for this reason, that their route lay through 
Sens, which was fortified and defended by a garrison. 
If Chernisheff had continued his march on Sens, he 
would have placed himself between that town and the 
whole French army, which was following at his heels. 
This would only have been an idle bravado, as he had 
already executed the commission given him by His 


396 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

Majesty, which was, to send him correct informa¬ 
tion of the true direction in which Napoleon was 
moving. 

As soon, therefore, as there was no doubt that Na¬ 
poleon was hastening to the capital, General Cherni- 
sheff, having sent in his report, retired from the great 
road towards Arcis and Mery. This movement of a 
detachment of cavalry, whose force was unknown to the 
French, led them to conclude that the allied cavalry was 
crossing to the right bank of the Seine, and that they 
themselves might continue their march to Paris without 
hindrance. As soon as Chermsheff had allowed the 
enemy to pass him, he marched on Villeneuve-sur-Van- 
nes, after the rear-guard, on which he made several 
successful attacks. But not satisfied with these partial 
successes, he turned aside to Villeneuve-le-Roi, in or¬ 
der to outflank Napoleon, and stand on his new line of 
communications between Paris and Orleans. He then 
crossed the Yonne, and advanced to the river Ouanne. 
Finding no bridge over the river, he ordered the am¬ 
munition to be taken out of the cases, and carried by 
hand above the surface of the water, which was so deep 
as to wash over the carts. Having successfully accom¬ 
plished the passage, our detachment marched to Ma- 
lesherbes, where it met a transport of twenty-two French 
guns, on the way to Orleans, and covered by seven-hun¬ 
dred horse and foot. These were instantly attacked, 
routed, and made prisoners, and the guns captured. 
This exploit was the last of the long series of successes 
which had crowned the Russian arms from the time we 
resumed the offensive at Tarootina till we planted our 
eagles in the heart of France. Chernisheff had thus 
the honour of firing the last shot near the banks of the 


MARMONT LEAVES THE FRENCH. 


397 


Loire, as he had fired the first on the left bank of the 
Nieman. He then occupied Etampes, and cut off the 
communications between Fontainebleau and Blois; 
that is, between Napoleon and the town in which were 
Maria Louisa, the brothers of the ex-ruler of France, 
and the chief dignitaries of the state. 

Napoleon posted his army, in number about fifty-thou¬ 
sand, at Fontainebleau ; the advanced guard, under the 
command of Marmont, occupying Essonne. The Al¬ 
lied Armies, with the exception of the guards, which 
remained at Paris, marched to a position between Lon- 
jumeau and Juvisy, where they remained for upwards of 
a fortnight, in order of battle, every precaution being 
taken against any attempt on the part of Napoleon. 
With respect to him, it is known, that during the first 
days of his stay at Fontainebleau, he meditated various 
projects for continuing the war. At first he thought of 
attacking Paris ; then he resolved to retire behind the 
Loire, and unite with Augereau and Soult; finally, 
he wanted to cross the Alps into Lombardy, to join the 
Viceroy of Italy, in order to establish himself in a coun¬ 
try in which he had reaped his first harvest of military 
glory. But, on cooler reflexion, he became convinced 
that the measures he contemplated could only prolong 
the war for a short time, but were not sufficient to re¬ 
store his lost power ; especially, as at this time circum¬ 
stances were occurring around him which daily dimi¬ 
nished his hopes. Thus the edifice of his power, which 
had been so hasti 1 у reared, having no moral principle 
for its foundation, fe!i, with one crash, to the ground. 

Conforming to the decree of the Senate, depriving 
Napoleon of the throne, Marshal Marmont, with his 
corps, left the French army, and retired within the line 


398 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


of the allied troops. His example was followed by a 
vast number of officers and men, who appeared at our 
advanced posts, requesting passports to return to their 
homes. All these circumstances shook the firmness of 
the Marshals and Generals, who were at Fontainebleau, 
and rendered Napoleon’s situation altogether hopeless. 
Seeing no further possibility of farther opposition, he 
sent Caulaincourt, Ney, and Macdonald, to Paris, with 
an offer to resign the throne to his son. Having met 
with a refusal, he first made an ineffectual attempt to 
poison himself, and afterwards shewed himself as hum¬ 
ble in adversity as he had been arrogant in the days of 
his prosperity. Having, on the 29th of March, signed 
his abdication, he, unconditionally, accepted the island 
of Elba, and some millions of yearly revenue for him¬ 
self and his relations. It is worthy of remark, that, 
while the powers of Europe were deciding on the future 
destiny of the cruel enemy of Russia, who, but a short 
time before, had thought to throw back her frontiers to 
the Dnieper and the Dwina, his negociators from Fon¬ 
tainebleau addressed themselves to the Emperor, and 
to no other of the Allied Sovereigns, for whom His 
Majesty spoke and acted. We must leave it to his¬ 
tory to decide the question which of the two is the 
greater object of wonder; Alexander, in spite of the 
numerous representations made to him, assuring the 
existence of Napoleon, or the latter receiving gifts at 
the hands of his rival. As soon as a provision was made 
for Napoleon and his family, their stay in France was 
no longer compatible with" circumstances. Their 
own safety required that they should retire beyond the 
frontiers. Almost all of them left Paris with Russian 
passports, and accompanied by the Emperor’s aide-de- 


ABDICATION OF NAPOLEON. 


299 


camps. Napoleon was attended by Count Shuvalof. 
It was the Emperor’s first intention to send General 
Chernisheff to Fontainebleau, but he changed his 
mind, saying, that it would be unpleasant for Napoleon, 
in adversity, to see at his side one who had been with 
him in days when he was intoxicated with success. This 
trait, to which it would not be easy to find a parallel, 
proves how deeply Alexander was penetrated with the 
principle of shewing mercy to an enemy. 

Count Shuvalof had already been sent by the Em¬ 
peror on a mission to the Empress Maria Louisa at 
Blois, whither, as we have seen, the majority of the 
ministers and dignitaries had retired. He was exceed¬ 
ingly well received by Her Majesty, and accompanied 
her to Orleans. On his way, the Empress and her 
attendants were alarmed by the sudden appearance of 
a detachment of General Chernisheff’s Cossacks, who, 
seeing a long file of court equipages on the road, were 
about to dash at them, when they were stopped by 
Shuvalof. On the arrival of the Empress at Orleans, 
certain intelligence was received of the change of 
government which had been effected at Paris. Napo¬ 
leon’s brothers and ministers now addressed themselves 
to our General for passports for Paris, and those places 
where they desired to reside. The Count complied 
with their requests ; and thus Napoleon’s relations and 
ministers owed their safety, even while travelling in 
France, to papers given them by an aide-de-camp of 
Alexander. With respect to Napoleon himself, during 
his journey from Fontainebleau to the island of Elba, 
Count Shuvalof had, on more than one occasion, an 
opportunity of saving him from the fury of the people. 
He who, not quite two years before, had given an 


400 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


order to blow up the Kremlin, was obliged to save his 
life by putting on the cloak of a Russian general. 

Although the new order of things established in 
France promised her peace and a mild government, 
there still remained many people attached to the cause 
of the discrowned hero. Some had owed him their 
places and honours, and others, for example, the pur¬ 
chasers of the confiscated domains of the nobility and 
the church, considered him as a pledge for the unmo¬ 
lested possession of their property : above all, the army 
regretted its idol. On this account, the kindness shown 
to Napoleon and his family by the Emperor, drew over 
to our side a host of his admirers, while our allies, by 
their evident coldness, kept them at a distance. Per¬ 
haps it may be said that Alexander’s chief motive to 
act as he did, was vanity, and that on this occasion he 
paid the common tribute of great minds to a wish to 
secure an additional page in the history of the age, 
knowing, as he did, that his every action would go 
down to posterity. In refutation of such an opinion, 
I will cite a fact, which it was impossible to suppose 
would ever become public, from its utter insignificance 
compared with the mighty occurrences which were then 
every day taking place. It will serve to prove how 
foreign was revenge to Alexander’s heart. The Em¬ 
peror one day received the following letter from a 
Frenchwoman: “ We have lost in Napoleon our bene¬ 
factor, and, along with him, our means of existence. 
Although Your Majesty has waged war against him, 
the French are still able to appreciate your generosity. 
Relying on this general opinion, I have recourse to 
Your Majesty with a petition that you would furnish 
me with a sum of money sufficient to enable me to 


FEELING OF THE FRENCH. 


401 


reach Tuscany, and reside on the coast opposite to the 
isle of Elba. There I shall have in view the place 
where the man dwells, on whom my gaze has been and 
ever will be fixed.” I received His Majesty’s com¬ 
mands to find out the petitioner, who had not signed 
her name, and to furnish her with the money necessary 
for her journey. 

During the discussions on the dethronement of Na¬ 
poleon, the officers of his army began to arrive in 
Paris from Fontainebleau ; but when his fate was de¬ 
cided, they crowded into the capital. As the peace 
was not yet signed, they did not know if their presence 
there would be tolerated, and therefore kept concealed, 
being afraid to show themselves abroad in uniform. 
As soon as the Emperor heard of this, he ordered the 
following advertisement to be published. 

“ Having learned that many French officers of all 
ranks are at this moment in Paris, either by reason of 
the present circumstances, or for the re-establishment 
of their health, which has suffered from fatigue or from 
wounds received in the field of honour, His Majesty 
cannot suppose they consider it necessary to conceal 
themselves. At all events, the Emperor has the plea¬ 
sure to announce to them, that they are at perfect 
liberty, and that it is incumbent on them, as well as on 
the other citizens of France, to lend their aid to such 
measures as it is necessary to take for the happiness of 
their country.” 

It was as easy to recognize the French officers by their 
sombre countenances as by their uniforms. Making 
due allowance for the feelings of these men, it was 
impossible to expect that they would at once meet us 
with expressions of cordiality : it was only by degrees 
d n 


402 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


that they could acknowledge, as the saviours of their 
country, an army with which they had long been fight¬ 
ing. Certain it is, however, that they conducted them¬ 
selves more politely towards the Russians than to the 
other allies, with whom they had frequent quarrels 
which ended in duels. The Russians were the chief 
objects of their hatred, and hardly a day passed in 
which blood did not flow on one side or the other. 
The German officers, although the neighbours of the 
French, had more difficulty in conforming to their 
manners, customs, and language, than the Russians. 
At this time we received permission to wear plain 
clothes, in which we appeared in society as ordinary 
citizens. The Prussians and Austrians, on the con¬ 
trary, continued to walk about in uniform. We may 
add, with perfect truth, that they did not try to adorn 
their triumph with modesty. The Austrians have a 
custom of wearing green branches in their caps and 
hats, which gave offence to the French, who thought 
they represented laurels; and hence resulted quarrels, 
and even murders. On the contrary, the Parisians 
were highly gratified by our wearing a white band 
round the left arm, and by our adding a white knot to 
our cockades. This apparently trifling circumstance 
turned the current of public opinion in our favour, and 
served as a bond of union between us; for the French 
almost without exception had resumed this colour, as a 
mark of their attachment to the Bourbons, and their 
wish for their restoration. 

The Emperor having liberally rewarded the Russian 
officers, and those of the Allied Armies, bestowed 
marks of his favour on various Frenchmen holding 
commissions, especially on those who had charge of 


EASTER SUNDAY. 


403 


our sick and wounded. By an Imperial order, money 
was sent to the parish priests for distribution among the 
necessitous. On one occasion, the French bankers 
sacrificed 8,000 francs in favour of our wounded, 
which they had gained by the exchange in Russian 
bank notes. His Majesty graciously acknowledging 
this offering, caused it to be divided into four parts, of 
which one was ordered to be given to the Russians, 
and the remainder to the Austrians, Prussians, and 
French. The money destined for the last, was sent 
by General Sacken to the minister at war, Dupont, 
with a letter which concluded with the following words : 
“ I esteem myself happy in having been chosen by 
His Majesty to announce this act of his munificence to 
your countrymen, to whose valour I have been a 
witness on many occasions.” One of the memorable 
days we spent in Paris was Easter Sunday, on which 
prayers of thanksgiving were offered up on the Place 
Louis XV, An altar had been erected for the cele¬ 
bration of divine service on the spot where the last 
King of France had died the death of a martyr. At 
an early hour of a lovely morning, our troops were 
drawn up in the streets and squares which were crowded 
with an inconceivable mass of people. The Emperor, 
accompanied by many foreigners, among whom were 
several French Marshals and Generals, on reaching 
the place where service was being performed, knelt 
down on the spot where twenty years before had been 
shed the blood of a virtuous monarch. Prayer ever 
elevates the soul; but it filled us with indescribable 
feelings when in the midst of Paris we poured out the 
grateful offerings of our hearts to the Most High. 
This day was truly the day of triumph of Alexander’s 
D D 2 


404 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


piety. Both in ancient and modem times have king¬ 
doms been conquered, but never was seen an example 
before of a conqueror in the midst of a foreign capital, 
naming himself the mere instrument of Providence, 
and giving the glory of his success to God alone. 
When prayers were over, the roar of the Russian 
cannon resounded throughout Paris. The thunder of 
the artillery, contrasting so strikingly with the profound 
silence which had reigned during the prayers, went to 
the hearts of us all. 

On the same day, His Majesty decorated his old 
tutor, Laharpe, with the blue ribbon of St. Andrew. 
The very day after the surrender of Paris, I was sent 
to his wife to announce to her in the name of the 
Emperor, that her husband was in safety at the 
Austrian head-quarters, and to offer her every assistance 
on the part of His Majesty, such as a guard to her 
country-house, or money if she needed it. I was 
further desired to tell her that His Majesty had not 
yet a moment to spare to visit her, but that he would 
lose no time in doing so. At Madame Laharpe’s I 
found a large party, and when I had informed her of 
His Majesty’s pleasure she burst into tears. “ You 
see my tears,” said she, “ they are my answer.” 

After Easter His Majesty quitted Talleyrand’s 
house, and took up his residence in the Palais Elysee. 
Soon afterwards arrived the Emperor Francis, who 
during Napoleon’s advance on St. Dizier, had set off 
for the Austrian Army at Dijon, where he had re¬ 
mained ever since. On the day of his arrival, Alex¬ 
ander met him with the Russian troops in order of 
parade, and in honour of the Austrian Sovereign, gave 
for parole, Vienna , and for countersign, Francis. 


ANECDOTES OF ALEXANDER. 


405 


The negociations for peace now began, and Alexander 
conducted them in person. On the 11th April, the 
plenipotentiaries of the Allied Powers concluded, with 
the brother and Lieutenant of Louis XVIII., the 
preliminary treaty by which the same frontiers were 
assigned to France, which bounded that kingdom pre¬ 
vious to 1792. The cabinet of the Tuilleries farther 
engaged to surrender fifty-two fortresses, still occupied 
by the French in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, 
Italy, and on the shores of the Adriatic. The treaty 
was signed on the 18th May, when the firing of guns 
announced a new epoch to Europe. 

The newspapers were at this time almost exclusively 
filled with articles about the Emperor Alexander; in¬ 
deed it almost seemed as if Paris had ceased to think 
of the other allies. It would not be difficult to make 
up an extensive collection of interesting anecdotes from 
the daily papers, but I must limit myself to a few, for 
the truth of which I am able to vouch. 

While riding through the Place Vendome, where 
stood the lofty column surmounted with Napoleon’s 
statue, the Emperor, in my hearing, said : “ If I stood 
as high, I should be afraid of my head growing giddy.” 

One of the most curious articles ever published by 
the government of a conquered country is the follow¬ 
ing : “ The public is informed by the police, that the 
monument on the Place Vendome is under the protec¬ 
tion of the magnanimity of His Majesty the Emperor 
of all the Russias and his allies. The sculpture on the 
summit cannot, under the present circumstances, re¬ 
main where it is, for which reason it will be replaced 
by a statue of Peace.” On this column, erected in 
honour of the victories gained by the French troops* 


406 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


stood, as we have said, a statue of Napoleon, to which 
the mob had several times fastened a rope, and with 
fearful cries endeavoured to pull it down. One daring 
fellow got upon the shoulders of the statue, and slapped 
the face on both sides. That the statue was not de¬ 
stroyed, the Parisians owe it to the monarch in whose 
capital Napoleon conducted himself on very different 
principles. Russian soldiers mounted guard to pre¬ 
serve the monument of him, who had stained Russia 
with blood from the Niemen to Moscow. 

At this time our allies by right of conquest selected 
and took away much of what the French had carried 
off from Germany and Italy. The Russians looked 
on as disinterested and indifferent spectators, for 
they had nothing to receive, having balanced ac¬ 
counts with the French while the latter were yet in 
the heart of Russia. Happening one day to be in 
the so called Napoleon museum, which contained 
inestimable treasures of art, I met the Emperor ac¬ 
companied by the well known director-in-chief Denon. 
His Majesty observing that the statues were wanting 
on several of the pedestals, and pointing to one of the 
vacant spaces said : “ What stood there formerly ?” 
“The Apollo Belvidere,” answered Denon. “Where 
is it now ?” continued the Emperor. “ As soon as 
Paris was threatened with danger,” said Denon in 
a humble tone, “we sent it to Orleans.” “If you 
had left it at Paris,” replied Alexander, “ I can 
assure you that nobody would have laid a finger on 
it; but now if the Cossacks should get hold of it, 
it will be their lawful prize.” 

The French, whose most celebrated writers had 
been preaching infidelity during a whole century, 


RUSSIAN PIETY. 


407 


were much astonished to observe the piety of the 
Emperor and the Russians. A generation reared 
in principles hostile to religion, which had seen it 
considered by the National Convention, by the 
Directory, and by Napoleon, as a thing of mere 
political expediency; an instrument, in short, employed 
for the attainment and preservation of power, could 
not be otherwise than astonished on seeing the 
piety of their conquerors openly displayed in word 
and action. The following extract is taken from 
one of the best French journals: “ It is indeed 
a matter of astonishment to all, to see that the 
sovereigns of Europe, who would have been jus¬ 
tified in avenging the many outrages they have 
suffered, and in demanding satisfaction of various 
kinds, appear among us as deliverers instead of 
the enemies and conquerors we dreaded. It may 
be asked what has turned aside the storm, which 
by our own fault was ready to burst over our heads, 
what has softened the hearts of these brave warriors ? 
We must allow that it is religion which formed 
the sacred bond of their union for the benefit of 
mankind, and the emblems of which their troops 
wear on ther garments. No human motive could 
have induced them to make sacrifices unparalleled 
in history.” 

“ We listened,” says another journalist, “ to young 
Russian officers, on the very day of their tri¬ 
umphant entrance into Paris, who spoke of their 
exploits from Moscow to the Seine, as of deeds 
which had been accomplished under the immediate 
guidance of Divine Providence, and ascribing only 
to themselves the glory of having been chosen as 


408 RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 

the instruments for the fulfilment of the Divine 
decrees. They spoke of their victories without exul¬ 
tation and in language so simple, that it seemed to us 
as if they did so by common consent out of polite¬ 
ness. They showed us a silver medal worn equally 
by their generals and private soldiers as a badge of 
distinction. On the one side is represented the 
eye of Providence, and on the other, these words from 
the scriptures : 4 Not unto us, not unto us, but unto 
Thy name.’ ” 

Our soldiers who were kept under the same subor¬ 
dination as in Russia, behaved in the most friendly 
manner towards the inhabitants of the towns and 
villages. In Paris, where there were none but 
picked troops, their stature, their simple way of 
living, and even their ignorance of the places whither 
the service had led them, all excited the curiosity 
of the French. One of the Parisian writers thus 
expresses himself on the subject of our camp. 44 The 
Elysian fields are frequented by crowds of Parisians 
who come to view the bivouacs of the horse regi¬ 
ments of the Russian guard, in which there are 
men of extraordinary stature and bodily strength ; 
some of them would seem to be seven feet in height. 
It is really wonderful to see men and horses in such 
excellent order who have come from so distant a 
country, who have taken part in numerous battles 
and been exposed to the inclemency of a long and 
severe winter. The Parisians, accustomed to con¬ 
sider Bellville, Argenteuil and Meudon as the 
boundaries of the world, and to whom camps are 
only known by the descriptions of their sons, gaze 
with delight on the bivouacs in the middle of their 


CONDUCT OF THE PARISIANS. 


409 


town. The remains of the hay which their horses 
have not eaten, compose the soldier’s beds. Bundles 
of straw covering their lances, which are planted 
against trees, form a sort of roof, under which are 
sheltered the men and their effects. Before each 
bivouac are fires on which their food is cooked. 
Here you may see a soldier cutting up beef, another 
preparing firewood, and a third cleaning his arms, 
or asleep with a saddle for a pillow. Many of 
them listen with an air of pleasure to the remarks 
of the loungers on their customs, as if they under¬ 
stood them. We either do not at all understand their 
answers to our questions, or only partially from their 
gestures which display their kindly feelings and unaf¬ 
fected good understanding with us.” 

It must ever be impossible for us to forget the 
attentions we received from the Parisians, whose 
houses and hearts were equally open to the 
Russians. The appearance of our officers more 
than once excited public applause in the theatres, 
which resounded, especially in the first part of our 
stay, with shouts of “ Long live the Russians!” 
The same thing happened in the coffee-houses 
where the people at first refused to take money 
from our countrymen. That the gratitude of the 
French to us was sincere, we had daily proofs; 
among others, I may mention that the inhabitants 
of many villages asked as a favour that our 
wounded officers and men might be quartered on 
them, in order that they might have an oppor¬ 
tunity of giving them every assistance in their power. 
The Russians too owe acknowledgments to the 
Parisians in another respect: the courage and 


410 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


constancy of Alexander, and the exploits of his 
troops were better appreciated by them than by any 
other foreigners. 

It is easier to conceive than to describe the crowd 
the first time His Majesty visited the theatre. The 
piece appointed for the evening was the “ Triumph of 
Trajanbut shortly before the Emperor’s arrival the 
curtain rose, and it was announced, that His Majesty, 
having declined to receive, as his due, the praises with 
which the opera is filled, and which the French intended 
as a token of their gratitude, La Vestale , would be 
performed in its stead. The moment the Emperor ap¬ 
peared, the immense theatre seemed to shake with the 
thunder of applause, which continued more than a quar¬ 
ter of an hour, and was frequently repeated during the 
evening. Between the acts, the spectators were not 
satisfied with having the national air of “ Vive Henri 
Quatre” played by the band, but called on a favourite 
actor to sing it. He came forward with a paper in his 
hand, and sang those verses in honour of Alexander, 
which soon after were sung all over Europe. On this 
occasion, La Vestale was performed by the best singers 
and dancers in Paris, and the boxes were filled with all 
the beauty of the capital. But, however much the ear 
and the eye were enchanted by the dancing and the 
music, I must own that my eyes frequently turned to 
two soldiers of the Pavlosk regiment of the guards, 
standing sentry, immoveable as statues, close by the 
curtain, and whose presence was perhaps the most cu¬ 
rious part of the spectacle displayed on this evening at 
the opera.* 

* The author is requested to pardon the translator for omitting his 
account of the Emperor’s reception hy the members of the Institute, as 


THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN. 


411 


To a Russian, the campaign we have endeavoured to 
describe has a peculiar charm. He there sees his So¬ 
vereign struggling not only with the chances and 
changes of war, but with the conflicting opinions of his 
Allies, which too often threatened ruin to the best of 
causes, and contemplates, with feelings of profound 
admiration, his dignified self-possession, and his un¬ 
flinching courage and constancy. With the exception 
of the year 1812, that palladium of Russian glory, 
where, more than in France, was a brighter lustre ever 
shed over the Russian arms,—a lustre equally bright in 
failure as in success ? In describing Alexander’s final 
struggle with Napoleon, I have spoken with impartia¬ 
lity of our victories and our failures. The latter are 
inevitable in war, and occur in almost every campaign ; 
but if they are manfully supported in the face of a skil¬ 
ful enemy, they perhaps do an army greater honour than 
slight advantages gained over an inexperienced talent¬ 
less opponent. If the most obstinate defence was to 
be expected, so were likewise alternations of success 
and failure, while we were fighting with him who had 
once aimed at universal monarchy, and who was now 
struggling to maintain his existence in France. Yet 
our partial failures are lost in the generality of those 
successes which opened the gates of Paris, laid the third 
part of France at the feet of the victors, and compelled 
Napoleon, in spite of his desperate resistance, to quit 
the scene. 

well as the panegyrics pronounced by the Savans of Paris. The re¬ 
markable occurrences, during His Majesty’s stay in the French capital, 
having been fully described by English pens, the public are already 
familiar with them. As for the laudatory addresses, they are so filled 
with fustian phrases, that to turn them into English would be a task 
equally difficult and useless. 


412 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


From the arrangements which placed the Russians 
under the command of foreign generals, it might appear 
as if a secondary rank had been assigned to our coun¬ 
trymen. But we have seen, that whether owing to a 
concourse of circumstances, or by chance, they were 
always in the front of the battle. Wherever Napoleon 
turned, wherever he fell upon his enemies, there he was 
sure to find the Russians in the first ranks. On their 
broad shoulders lay the chief weight of the campaign, 
and with reason too; for, in point of discipline, and 
real soldier-like bearing, they surpassed the troops of 
the other Powers, along with whom they fought. The 
Russian army, having been engaged in nine successive 
campaigns with the French, Turks, and Swedes, had 
become familiarized with war, in all its forms, in those 
brilliant campaigns, whose results were the conquest of 
Finland, Bessarabia, the expulsion of the French from 
Russia, and the deliverance of Germany. Trained to 
the endurance of privations of every kind, and accus¬ 
tomed to vanquish not only their enemies, but even 
nature herself, the Russians, in the course of these nine 
years, had triumphed beyond the Danube, at the gates 
of Stockholm, in the heart of their native country, and 
from the Niemen to the Rhine. 

In our first campaigns against Napoleon, in Moravia 
and Prussia, the French were undoubtedly superior to 
us in skill and experience; but, from the year 1812, 
their inferiority, in both respects, was evident to all. 
Had it been otherwise, could Osterman have stood his 
ground at Culm, Sackon at Brienne, WorontzofF at 
Craonne ? Could ChernishefF, with a flying detachment, 
have taken more than one hundred and thirty pieces of 
cannon, or Rudzёvitch have carried Montmartre ? But 


CONDUCT OF ALEXANDER. 


413 


while we duly honour the names of those generals and 
the other upholders of Russian glory, let us not refuse 
the meed of praise to the heroic courage of the officers 
and men with whom it was possible to accomplish such 
feats! We may here add, that from the year 1812, 
discipline and precision in the service of the front, as 
well as the commissariat, had visibly decayed in Napo¬ 
leon’s armies, while they daily advanced towards per¬ 
fection in those of Alexander. The care bestowed by 
the latter, on these important objects, never slackened, 
while the former became every day more indifferent to 
the increasing disorders among his troops. To the 
Russian army, case-hardened in the fire of many com¬ 
bats, bearing easily the restraints of strict discipline, and 
filled with the warmest sentiments of duty to God and 
to their Sovereign, was reserved the chief parts in the 
campaign of France, in which the remains of Napoleon’s 
legions were destroyed, and the deliverance of Europe 
achieved. 

Various, complicated, and changing, as were the fea¬ 
tures of this memorable campaign, there was one which 
retained the same immutable character to the last; I 
allude to Alexander’s aim at Napoleon’s overthrow. 
With all the firmness of purpose, engendered by a deep- 
rooted idea, paying no attention to the fears which 
haunted many of those around him, and despising the 
prejudices of his contemporaries, who considered Napo¬ 
leon as invincible, he resolutely continued the struggle 
begun in 1812, conquered the first warrior of the age, 
and annihilated the mightiest man of modern times. 
The greatness of the Emperor consists, above all, in 
this, that, being filled with a sense of the justice and 
expediency of his policy, he so devoted the whole powers 


414 


RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN IN FRANCE. 


of his mind, and the whole strength of his character, to 
carry it into effect, that his exertions led to the combined 
efforts of all legitimate thrones, in the common cause, 
and consequently to the consolidation of independent 
states, and the happiness of nations now flourishing un¬ 
der the shade of peace. Having gained his object, he 
proved himself to be fully penetrated with the conserva¬ 
tive principles of order, and thus secured to himself an 
enduring moral influence, which is mightier than power, 
or, to speak more correctly, which is power itself. 


THE END. 


LONDON : PRINTED BY STEWART AND MURRAY, OLD BAILEY. 








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